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DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 


LADY  FRANCES  BALFOUR 


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DR.    ELSIE    IXGLIS,    1916 


DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 


BY 

LADY  FRANCES  BALFOUR 

AUTHOR   OF   "the  LIFE    OF  LADY  VICTORIA  CAMPBELL,"   "LIFE  AND 
LETTERS  OF  REV.  JAMES  MACGREGOR,  D.D./'  ETC. 


NEW  >iajr  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1919, 
By  George  H.  Doran  Company 


O' 


vmmm 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


TO 

SERBIA 

AND  THE 

SCOTTISH  women's  HOSPITAL 

THAT   SERVED   AND    LOVED 

THEIR  BRETHREN 

1914-1917 

*In  your  'patience  possess  ye  your  souls' 


PREFACE 

The  story  of  Elsie  Inglis  needs  little  introduc- 
tion. From  first  to  last  she  was  the  woman  nobly 
planned.  She  achieved  what  she  did  because 
she  was  ready  when  the  opportunity  came.  Con- 
sistently she  had  lived  her  life,  doing  whatever 
her  hand  found  to  do  with  all  her  might,  and 
ever  following  the  light.  She  had  the  spirit  of 
her  nation  and  of  her  race:  the  spirit  of  cour- 
ageous adventure,  the  love  of  liberty,  and  equal 
freedom  for  all  people. 

If  this  memoir  represents  her  faithfully,  it  is 
because  it  has  been  written  among  her  own 
family  and  kindred.  Every  letter  or  story  of 
her  is  part  of  a  consistent  whole.  Transparently 
honest,  warmly  affectioned  to  all,  the  record 
could  hardly  err  if,  following  exactly  her  foot- 
prints in  the  sands  of  time,  it  presents  a  portrait 
of  one  of  old  Scotia's  truest  daughters.  I  owe 
manifold  thanks  to  her  sisters,  her  friends,  her 
patients,  above  all,  to  her  Units,  for  the  help 
they  have  given  me  in  what  has  been  a  labour 
of  love  and  growing  respect.  She,  being  dead, 
yet  speaketh ;  and,  while  we  thank  our  God  for 
every  remembrance  of  her,  we  hope  that  those 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

who  are  her  living  memorials,  the  patients  in 
the  Hospice,  and  the  Scottish  Women's  Hos- 
pitals, will  not  be  forgotten  by  those  who  read 
and  pass  on  the  pilgrim  way. 

The  design  for  the  book  cover  has  been  drawn 
by  Dr.  Inglis'  countryman,  Mr.  Anning  Bell. 
It  is  the  emblem  of  her  nation  and  of  the  S.W.H. 

F.  B. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

Inglis  of  Kingsmills,  Inverness-shire      ...       15 

chapter  ii 
Elsie  Maud  Inglis 3  ^ 

chapter  iii 
The  Ladder  of  Learning 4^ 

chapter  iv 
The  Student  Days 53 

chapter  v 
London  and  Dublin 7^ 

chapter  vi 
Political  Enfranchisement  and  National  Pol- 


itics 


96 


chapter  VII 

The  Profession  and  the  Faith 124 

chapter  viii 
War  AND  THE  Scottish  Women i49 

ix 


X  CONTENTS 

PAGB 

CHAPTER  IX 

Serbia i74 

chapter  x 
Russia 202 

chapter  xi 
The  Moorings  Cut      .........     24S 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Dr.  Elsie  Inglis,  1916 Frontispuce 


PAGE 


Alexander  Inglis,  Great-grandfather  of  Dr. 
Elsie  Inglis 28 

Mrs.  Robertson,  nee  Katherine  Inglis,  Great- 
aunt  OF  Dr.  Elsie  Inglis 3^ 

Dr.  Elsie  Inglis,  1916 244 


DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 


DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

CHAPTER  I 
INGLIS  OF  KINGSMILLS,  INVERNESS-SHIRE 

PART  I 

AMERICA 

"Their  graves  are  scattered  far  and  wide, 
O'er  mountain,  stream  and  sea." 

"God  of  our  fathers!  be  the  God 
Of  their  succeeding  race." 

Among  the  records  of  the  family  from  whom 
Elsie  Inglis  was  descended  there  are  letters 
which  date  back  to  1740.  In  that  year  the  prop- 
erty of  Kingsmills,  Inverness-shire,  was  in  the 
hands  of  Hugh  Inglis.  He  had  three  sons, 
George,  Alexander,  and  William.  George  in- 
herited Kingsmills,  and  the  Inglis  now  in  Inver- 
ness are  descended  from  him.  Alexander,  the 
great-grandfather  of  Elsie,  married  Mary  Deas, 
and  about  1780  emigrated  to  Carolina,  leaving 
his  four  children  to  be  educated  in  Scotland,  in 

15 


16  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

charge  of  his  brother,  William  Inglis.  The  por- 
trait of  Alexander,  in  the  dress  of  the  period,  has 
the  characteristic  features  of  the  race  descended 
from  him.  The  face  is  stamped  with  the  im- 
press of  a  resolute,  fearless  character,  one  who 
was  likely  to  leave  his  mark  on  any  country  in 
which  he  took  up  his  abode.  There  is  an  ac- 
count of  the  property  and  estates  of  Alexander 
Inglis  of  Charleston  "merchant  in  his  own 
right."  The  account  sets  forth  how  the  estates 
are  confiscated  on  account  of  the  loyalty  of  the 
said  Alexander,  and  his  adherence  to,  and  sup- 
port of  the  British  Government  and  consti- 
tution." 

In  the  schedule  of  property  there  occur,  in 
close  relation,  these  items:  125  head  of  black 
cattle,  £125;  69  slaves  at  £60  a  head,  £4140;  a 
pew.  No.  31  in  St.  Michael's  Church,  Charles- 
ton, £150;  II  house  negroes,  £700;  and  a  library 
of  well-chosen  books,  at  a  much  lower  figure. 
Alexander  never  lost  sight  of  the  four  children 
left  in  his  native  land.  In  1784  he  congratulates 
his  son  David  on  being  Dux  of  his  class,  and  says 
that  he  prays  constantly  for  him. 

Mary  Deas,  Alexander  Inglis'  wife,  through 
her  ancestor  Sir  David  Dundas,  was  a  direct 
descendant  of  Robert  the  Bruce.  All  that  is 
known  of  her  life  is  contained  in  the  undated 


INGLIS  OF  KINGSMILLS  17 

obituary  notice  of  the  American  newspaper  of 
the  day: — 

"The  several  duties  of  her  station  in  hfe  she  dis- 
charged as  became  the  good  Christian,  supporting 
with  exemplary  fortitude  the  late  trying  separation 
from  her  family." 

Alexander's  restless  and  adventurous  life  was 
soon  to  have  a  violent  end. 

After  their  mother's  death,  the  three  daughters 
must  have  joined  their  father  in  America.  One 
of  them,  Katherine,  whose  face  has  been  immor- 
talised by  Raeburn,  writes  to  her  brother  David, 
who  had  been  left  in  Scotland,  to  inform  him  of 
the  death  of  their  father  in  a  duel. 

The  letter  which  Alexander  Inglis  wrote  to 
be  given  to  his  children,  should  he  fall  in  the 
duel,  is  as  fresh  and  clear  as  on  the  day  when  it 
was  written : — 

*'My  dear,  dear  Children, — If  ever  you  re- 
ceive this  letter  it  will  be  after  my  death.  You 
were  present  this  morning  when  I  received  the  gross- 
est insult  that  could  be  offered  me — and  such  as  I 
little  expected  from  the  young  man  who  dared  to 
offer  it.  Could  the  epithets  which  in  his  passion  he 
ventured  to  make  use  of  be  properly  applied  to  me 
— I  would  not  wish  to  live  another  hour,  but  as  a 
man  of  honour,  and  the  natural  guardian  and  pro- 
tector of  everything  that  is  dear  and  valuable  to  my- 
self and  to  you,  I  have  no  alternative  left,  but  that  of 


18  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

demanding  reparation  for  the  Injury  I  have  received. 
If  I  fall — I  do  so  In  defence  of  that  honour,  which 
is  dearer  to  me  than  life.  May  that  great,  gra- 
cious and  good  Being,  who  Is  the  protector  of  Inno- 
cence, and  the  sure  rewarder  of  goodness,  bless, 
preserve  and  keep  you. — I  am,  my  dear,  dear  chil- 
dren, your  affectionate  father, 

*'Alexr.  Inglis. 

"Charleston, 
"Tuesday  evening,  29  March  1791." 

The  letter  is  addressed  by  name  to  the  four 
children. 

Katherine  writes  to  her  brother  David  in  the 
foUov^ing  May: — 

*'In  what  manner,  my  dearest  brother,  shall  I  re- 
late to  you  the  melancholy  event  that  has  befallen 
us.  Our  dear  parent,  the  best  of  fathers,  is  no 
more.  How  shall  I  go  on?  Alas!  you  will  hear 
too  soon  by  whose  hand  he  fell;  therefore  I  will 
not  distress  you  with  the  particulars  of  his  death. 
The  second  day  of  our  dear  father's  illness  he  called 
us  to  his  bedside,  when  he  told  us  he  had  left  a  let- 
ter for  us  three  and  his  dear  boy  which  would  ex- 
plain all  things.  Judge  if  you  are  able,  my  dear 
brother,  what  must  have  been  our  thoughts  on  this 
sad  occasion  to  see  our  only  dear  parent  tortured 
with  the  most  excruciating  pains  and  breathing  his 
last.  We  were  all  of  us  too  young,  my  brother,  to 
experience  the  heavy  loss  we  met  with  when  our 
dear  mother  died,  we  had  then  a  good  father  to 


INGLIS  OF  KINGSMILLS  19 

supply  our  wants.  I  have  always  thought  the  Al- 
mighty kind  to  all  His  creatures,  but  more  so  in 
this  particular  that  He  seldom  deprives  us  of  one 
friend  without  raising  another  to  comfort  us.  My 
dear  sisters  and  self  are  at  present  staying  with 
good  Mrs.  Jamieson,  who  is  indeed  a  truly  amiable 
woman.  I  am  sure  you  will  regard  her  for  your 
sisters'  sakes.  You  are  happily  placed,  my  brother, 
under  the  care  of  kind  uncles  and  aunts  who  will  no 
doubt  (as  they  ever  have  done)  prove  all  you  have 
lost.  How  happy  would  it  make  me  in  my  present 
situation  to  be  among  my  friends  in  Scotland,  but 
as  that  is  impossible  for  some  time  I  must  endeavour 
to  be  as  happy  as  I  can.  My  kind  duty  to  uncle 
and  aunts. — I  am,  my  dearest  brother,  your  truly 
affectionate  sister, 

"Katherine  Inglis." 

Thus  closes  the  chapter  of  Alexander  Inglis 
and  Mary  Deas,  his  wife,  both  ^'long,  long  ago 
at  rest"  in  the  land  of  their  exile,  both  bearing 
the  separation  v^ith  fortitude,  and  the  one  ren- 
dering his  children  fatherless  rather  than  live 
insulted  by  some  nameless  and  graceless  youth. 

David  Inglis  grew  up  in  charge  of  the  kind 
Uncle  William,  and  endeared  himself  to  his 
adopted  father.  He  also  was  to  fare  to  domin- 
ions beyond  the  sea,  and  he  carried  the  name  of 
Inglis  to  India,  where  he  went  in  1798  as  writer 
to  the  East  India  Company. 


go  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

Uncle  William  followed  him  with  the  usual 
good  advice.  In  a  letter  he  tells  David  he  ex- 
pects him  to  make  a  fortune  in  India  that  will 
give  him  ''£3000  a  year,  that  being  the  lowest 
sum  on  which  it  is  possible  to  live  in  comfort." 

David's  life  was  a  more  adventurous  one  than 
that  which  usually  falls  to  a  writer.  He  went 
through  the  Mahratta  War  in  1803.  He  left 
India  in  1812.  On  applying  for  a  sick  certifi- 
cate, the  resolution  of  Council,  dated  181 1, 
draws  the  attention  of  the  Honourable  Company 
to  his  services,  "most  particularly  when  selected 
to  receive  charge  of  the  territorial  cessions  of 
the  Peshwa  under  the  Treaty  of  Bassein  in  the 
year  1803,  displaying  in  the  execution  of  that 
delicate  and  difficult  mission,  proofs  of  judg- 
ment and  talents  with  moderation  and  firmness 
combined,  which  averted  the  necessity  of  having 
recourse  to  coercive  measures,  accomplished  the 
peaceable  transfer  of  a  valuable  territory,  and 
conciliated  those  whose  power  and  consequence 
were  annihilated  or  abridged  by  the  important 
change  he  so  happily  effected."  David  Inglis 
seems  to  have  roamed  through  India,  always 
seeking  new  worlds  to  conquer,  and  confident  in 
his  own  powers  to  achieve. 

One  of  the  Napoleonic  invasion  scares 
alarmed  the  Company,  and  David,  with  two 
companions,  was  sent  out  on  a  cruising  expedi- 


INGLIS  OF  KINGSMILLS  21 

tion  to  see  if  they  could  sight  the  enemy's  fleet. 
As  long  as  he  wrote  from  India,  his  letters  bear 
the  stamp  of  a  man  full  of  vital  energy  and 
resource. 

The  only  thing  he  did  not  accomplish  while 
in  the  service  of  the  Company  was  the  fortune 
of  £3000  a  year. 

He  entered  a  business  firm  in  Bombay  and 
there  made  enough  to  be  able  to  keep  a  wife. 
In  1806  he  married  Martha  Money,  whose 
father  was  a  partner  in  the  firm.  They  came 
home  in  1812,  and  all  their  younger  children 
were  born  in  England  at  Walthamstow,  the 
home  of  the  Money  family.  One  of  the  descend- 
ants, who  has  read  the  letters  of  these  three 
brothers  and  their  families,  makes  this  comment 
on  them: — 

"The  letters  are  pervaded  with  a  sense  of  activity, 
and  of  wandering.  Each  one  entering  Into  any  pur- 
suit that  came  to  hand.  All  the  family  were  trav- 
ellers. There  are  letters  from  aunts  in  Gibraltar 
and  many  other  airts. 

"The  extraordinary  thing  in  all  the  letters, 
whether  they  were  written  by  an  Inglis,  a  Deas,  or 
a  Money,  Is  the  pervading  note  of  strong  religious 
faith.  They  not  only  refer  to  religion,  but  often, 
in  truly  Scottish  fashion  they  enter  on  long  theolog- 
ical dissertations.  David  Inglis,  Elsie's  grand- 
father, when  he  was  settled  In  England  gave  mis- 


22  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

sionary  addresses.  Two  of  these  exist,  and  must 
have  taken  fully  an  hour  to  read.  Even  the  rest- 
less Alexander  In  Carolina,  and  the  Vhirlwind* 
David  in  India  scarcely  ever  write  a  letter  without 
a  reference  to  some  religious  topic.  You  get  the 
Impression  of  strong  breezy  men  sure  of  themselves, 
and  finding  the  world  a  great  playground." 


PART  U 

INDIA 
**God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Beneath  Whose  awful  hand  we  hold 
Dominion  over  palm  and  pine." 

John,  the  second  youngest  son  of  David  and 
Martha  Inglis,  was  born  in  1820.  His  mother 
being  English,  there  entered  v^ith  her  some  of 
the  douce  Saxon  disposition  and  ways.  Though 
the  call  of  the  blood  was  to  cast  his  lot  in  India, 
John,  or  as  he  was  generally  called  David,  ap- 
pears first  as  a  student.  His  tutor,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Niblock,  wrote  a  report  of  him  as  he  was 
passing  out  of  his  hands  to  Haileybury.  Mrs. 
Inglis  notes  on  the  letter:  "Dr.  Niblock  is  es- 
teemed one  of  the  best  Greek  scholars  in  Eng- 
land, and  his  Greek  Grammar  is  the  one  in  use 
in  Eton." 


INGLIS  OF  KINGSMILLS  23 

**0f  Master  David  Inglls  I  can  speak  with  pleas- 
ure and  pride  almost  unmixed.  I  can  only  loudly 
express  how  I  regret  that  I  have  not  the  finishing 
of  such  a  boy,  for  I  feel,  and  shall  ever  feel,  that 
he  is  mine.  He  has  long  begun  to  do  what  fev/ 
boys  do  till  they  are  leaving,  or  have  left,  school, 
viz.  to  think.  I  shall  long  cherish  the  hope,  that 
as  I  laid  the  foundation,  so  shall  I  have  the  power 
and  pleasure  of  crowning  my  own  and  other's  la- 
bours. He  will  make  a  fine  fellow  and  be  a  com- 
fort to  his  parents,  and  an  honour  to  his  tutor." 

John  Inglis  received  a  nomination  for  Hailey- 
bury  College  from  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
East  India  Company,  and  went  there  as  a  stu- 
dent in  1839.  There  he  was  noted  as  a  cricketer 
and  a  good  horseman,  and  also  for  his  reading. 
He  knew  Shakespeare  almost  by  heart,  and 
could  tell  where  to  find  any  quotation  from  his 
works.  On  leaving  Haileybury  he  sailed  for 
Calcutta,  and  was  there  for  two  years  learning 
the  language.  He  went  as  assistant  magistrate 
to  Agra.  He  married  in  1846,  and  in  1847  he 
was  transferred  to  the  newly-acquired  province 
of  the  Punjab.  He  was  sent  as  magistrate  to 
Sealkote,  remaining  there  till  1856.  He  then 
brought  his  family  home  on  three  years'  fur- 
lough. With  the  outbreak  of  the  Mutiny  all 
civilians  were  recalled,  and  he  returned  to  India 
in  1858.   He  was  sent  to  Bareilly  to  take  part  in 


24  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

the  suppression  of  the  Mutiny,  and  was  attached 
to  the  force  under  General  Jones.  He  was  pres- 
ent at  the  action  at  Najibabad,  with  the  recap- 
ture of  Bareilly,  and  the  pacification  of  the 
province  of  Rohilcund.  He  remained  in  the 
province  ten  years  till  1868,  and  during  those 
years  he  rose  to  be  Commissioner  of  Rohilcund. 
In  1868  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Revenue  in  the  North-West  Provinces.  As 
a  member  of  the  Legislative  Council  of  India, 
he  moved,  in  1873,  to  Calcutta.  From  1875  to 
1877  he  was  Chief  Commissioner  of  Oude. 

The  position  Inglis  made  for  himself  in  India, 
in  yet  early  life,  is  to  be  gauged  by  a  letter  writ- 
ten in  1846  by  Sir  Frederick  Currie,  who  was 
then  Commissioner  of  Lahore.  He  had  married 
Mrs.  Inglis'  sister  Katherine. 

"We  have  applied  to  Mr.  Thomasen  (Lieuten- 
ant-Governor of  the  N.W.P.)  for  young  civilians 
for  the  work  which  is  now  before  us,  and  we  must 
take  several  with  us  into  the  Punjab.  One  whom 
he  strongly  recommends  is  Inglis  at  Agra.  I  will 
copy  what  he  says  about  him.  Sir  Henry  Har- 
dinge  (the  Governor-General)  has  not  seen  the  let- 
ter yet.  Another  man  who  might  suit  you  is  Inglis 
at  Agra ;  an  assistant  on  £400,  acting  as  joint  mag- 
istrate which  gives  him  one  hundred  more.  Active, 
energetic,  conciliating  to  natives,  fine-tempered,  and 
thoroughly  honest  in  all  his  works.     I  am  not  sure 


INGLIS  OF  KINGSMILLS  25 

that  he  is  not  as  good  a  man  as  you  can  have.     I 
shall  be  glad  to  hear  that  you  send  for  him.'  " 

The  letter  was  addressed  to  Inglis'  eighteen- 
year-old  bride,  and  Sir  Frederick  goes  on: — 

*'Shall  I  send  for  him  or  not?  I  am  almost  sure 
I  should  have  done  so,  had  I  not  heard  of  your  get- 
ting hold  of  his  heart.  We  don't  want  heartless 
men,  but  really  you  have  no  right  to  keep  such  a 
man  from  us.  At  the  present  moment,  however, 
for  your  sake,  little  darling,  I  won't  take  him  from 
his  present  work,  but  if,  after  the  honeymoon,  he 
would  prefer  active  and  stirring  employment,  with 
the  prospect  of  distinction,  to  the  light-winged  toys 
of  feathered  cupid,  I  dare  say  I  shall  be  able  to 
find  an  opening  for  him." 

Mr.  Inglis'  wife  was  Harriet  Louis  Thomp- 
son, one  of  nine  daughters.  Her  father  was  one 
of  the  first  Indian  civilians  in  the  old  company's 
days.  All  of  the  nine  sisters  married  men  in 
the  Indian  Civil,  with  the  exception  of  one  who 
married  an  army  officer.  Harriet  came  out  to 
her  parents  in  India  when  she  was  seventeen, 
and  she  married  in  her  eighteenth  year.  She 
must  have  been  a  girl  of  marked  character  and 
ability.  She  met  her  future  husband  at  a  dance 
in  her  father's  house,  and  she  appears  to  have 
been  the  first  to  introduce  the  waltz  into  India. 
She  was  a  fine  rider,  and  often  drove  tandem  in 


26  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

India.  She  must  have  had  a  steady  nerve,  for 
her  letters  are  full  of  various  adventures  in 
camp  and  tiger-haunted  jungles,  and  most  of 
them  narrate  the  presence  of  one  of  her  infants 
who  was  accompanying  the  parents  on  their 
routine  of  Indian  official  life. 
Her  daughter  says  of  her: — 

"She  was  deeply  religious.  Some  years  after 
their  marriage,  when  she  must  have  been  a  little 
over  thirty  and  was  alone  in  England  with  the  six 
elder  children,  she  started  and  ran  most  success- 
fully a  large  workingmen's  club  in  Southampton. 
Such  a  thing  was  not  as  common  as  it  is  to-day. 
There  she  lectured  on  Sunday  evenings  on  religious 
subjects  to  the  crowded  hall  of  men." 

In  the  perfectly  happy  home  of  the  Inglis 
family  in  India,  the  Indian  ayah  was  one  of  the 
household  in  love  and  service  to  those  she  served. 
Mrs.  Simson  has  supplied  some  memories  of 
this  faithful  retainer: — 

''The  early  days,  the  nursery  days  in  the  life  of 
a  family,  are  always  looked  back  upon  with  loving 
interest,  and  many  of  us  can  trace  to  them  many 
sweet  and  helpful  influences.  So  it  was  with  our 
early  days,  though  the  nursery  was  in  India,  and  the 
dear  nurse  who  lives  in  our  memories  was  an  Indian. 
Her  name  was  Sona  (Gold).  She  came  into  our 
family  when  the  eldest  of  us  was  born,  and  remained 
one  of  the  household  for  more  than  thirty  years. 


TNGLIS  OF  KINGSMILLS  %1 

Her  husband  came  with  her,  and  in  later  years 
three  of  her  sons  were  table  servants.  Sona  came 
home  with  us  In  1857,  and  remained  in  England 
till  the  beginning  of  1858.  It  was  a  sign  of  great 
attachment  to  us,  for  she  left  her  own  family  away 
up  in  the  Punjab,  and  fared  out  in  the  long  sea 
voyage,  into  a  strange  country  and  among  new  peo- 
ples. She  made  friends  wherever  she  was,  and  her 
stay  in  England  was  a  great  help  to  her  in  after  life. 
When  I  returned  to  India  after  my  school  life  at 
home,  I  found  the  dear  nurse  of  my  childhood  days 
installed  again  as  nurse  to  the  little  sisters  and 
brother  I  found  there. 

"She  was  a  sweet,  gentle  woman,  and  we  never 
learnt  anything  but  kind,  gentle  ways  from  her. 
By  the  time  I  returned  she  was  recognised  by  the 
whole  compound  of  servants  as  one  to  be  looked  up 
to  and  respected.  She  became  a  Christian  and  was 
baptized  in  1877,  but  long  before  she  made  pro- 
fession of  her  faith  by  baptism  she  lived  a  con- 
sistent Christian  life.  My  dear  mother's  influence 
was  strong  with  her,  and  she  was  a  reader  of  the 
Bible.  One  of  my  earliest  recollections  is  our  read- 
ing together  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  St.  John. 

"She  died  some  years  after  we  had  all  settled  in 
Scotland.  My  parents  left  her,  with  a  small  pen- 
sion for  life,  in  charge  of  the  missionaries  at  Luck- 
now.  When  she  died,  they  wrote  to  us  saying  that 
old  Sona  had  been  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  Indian 
Christian  Church  in  Lucknow. 

"We  look  forward  with  a  sure  and  certain  hope 


28  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

to  our  reunion  in  the  home  of  many  mansions,  with 
her,  around  whom  our  hearts  still  cling  with  love 
and  affection.'' 


In  1856  Mr.  Inglis  resolved  to  come  home  on 
furlough,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Inglis,  and  w^hat 
w^as  called  ''the  first  family,"  namely,  the  six 
boys  and  one  girl  born  to  them  in  India.  It  w^as 
a  formidable  journey  to  accomplish  even  w^ith- 
out  children,  and  one  w^rites,  ''How  mother 
stood  it  all  I  cannot  imagine."  They  came  down 
from  the  Punjab  to  Calcutta  trekking  in  dak 
garris.  It  took  four  months  to  reach  Calcutta 
by  this  means  of  progression,  and  another  four 
months  to  come  home  by  the  Cape.  The  won- 
derful ayah,  Sona,  was  a  great  help  in  the  toil- 
some journey  when  they  brought  the  children 
back  to  England.  Mrs.  Inglis  was  soon  to  have 
her  first  parting  with  her  husband.  When  they 
landed  in  England,  news  of  the  outbreak  of  the 
Mutiny  met  them,  and  Mr.  Inglis  returned  al- 
most at  once  to  take  his  place  beside  John  Law- 
rence. Together  they  fought  through  the 
Mutiny,  and  then  he  worked  under  him.  Inglis 
was  one  of  John  Lawrence's  men  in  the  great 
settling  of  the  Punjab  which  followed  on  that 
period  of  stress  and  strain  in  the  Empire  of 
India.  His  own  district  was  Bareilly,  and  the 
house  where  he  lived  in  Sealkote  is  still  known 


ALEXANDER   INGLIS    (d.    1791) 
GREAT-GRAXDFATHEK    OF   DR.    ELSIE    INGLIS 


INGLIS  OF  KINGSMILLS  29 

as  Inglis  Sahib  ke  koti  (Inglis  Sahib's  house). 
His  children  remember  the  thrilling  stories  he 
used  to  tell  them  of  these  great  days,  and  of  the 
great  men  who  made  their  history. 

His  admiration  was  unbounded  for  those 
northern  races  of  India.  He  loved  and  respected 
them,  and  they,  in  their  turn,  gave  him  un- 
bounded confidence  and  affection.  ^^Every  bit 
as  good  as  an  Englishman,"  was  a  phrase  often 
on  his  lips  when  speaking  of  the  fine  Sikhs  and 
Punjabis  and  Rajpoots. 

Englishwomen  were  not  allowed  in  India  dur- 
ing this  period,  and  Mrs.  Inglis  had  to  remain 
in  Southampton  with  her  six  children  and  their 
ayah.  It  was  then  that  she  found  work  in  her 
leisure  time  for  the  work  she  did  in  the  Men's 
Club. 

In  1863,  when  life  in  India  had  resumed  its 
normal  course,  Mrs.  Inglis  rejoined  her  hus- 
band, leaving  the  children  she  had  brought  back 
at  home. 

It  must  have  taken  all  the  "fortitude"  that 
Mary  Deas  had  shown  long  before  in  Carolina 
to  face  this  separation.  There  was  no  prospect 
of  the  running  backwards  and  forwards,  which 
steam  was  so  soon  to  develop,  and  to  draw  the 
dominions  into  closer  bonds.  Letters  took 
months  to  pass,  and  no  cable  carried  the  mes- 
sages of  life  and  death  across  "the  white-lipped 


30  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

seas."  Again,  one  of  the  survivors  says:  "I  al- 
ways felt  even  as  a  child,  and  am  sure  of  it  now, 
she  left  her  heart  behind  with  the  six  elder  chil- 
dren. What  it  must  have  meant  to  a  woman  of 
her  deep  nature,  I  cannot  imagine."  The  de- 
cision was  made,  and  Mr.  Inglis  was  to  have 
the  great  reward  of  her  return  to  him,  after  his 
seven  years  of  strenuous  and  anxious  loneliness. 
The  boys  were  sent,  three  of  them  to  Eton,  and 
two  more  to  Uppingham  and  to  Rugby.  Amy 
Inglis  the  daughter  was  left  with  friends.  Rela- 
tives were  not  lacking  in  this  large  clan  and  its 
branches,  and  the  children  were  "looked  after" 
by  them.  We  owe  much  of  our  knowledge  of 
"the  second  little  family,"  which  were  to  com- 
fort the  parents  in  India,  by  the  correspondence 
concerning  them  with  the  dearly-loved  children 
left  in  the  homelands. 


CHAPTER  II 
ELSIE  MAUD  INGLIS 

1 864-19 1 7 

"Lo,  children  are  an  heritage  of  the  Lord:  and  the 
fruit  of  the  womb  is  His  reward.  As  arrows  are  in 
the  hand  of  the  mighty  man,  so  are  children  of  the 
youth.  Happy  is  the  man  that  hath  his  quiver  full 
of  them;  they  shall  not  be  ashamed,  but  they  shall 
speak  with  the  enemies  in  the  gate." 

"Naini  Tal,  Aug,  16,  1864. 
"My  darling  Amy, — Thank  God,  I  am  able  to  tell 
you  that  your  dearest  mother,  and  your  little  sister 
who  was  born  this  morning  are  well.  Aunt 
Ellen  thinks  that  baby  is  very  like  your  dearest 
mother,  but  I  do  not  see  the  resemblance  at  pres- 
ent. I  hope  I  may  by  and  by.  We  could  not  form 
a  better  wish  for  her,  than  that  she  may  grow  up 
like  her  dear  mother  in  every  respect.  Old  Sona 
is  quite  delighted  to  have  another  baby  to  look  after 
again.  She  took  possession  of  her  the  moment  she 
was  born,  as  she  has  done  with  all  of  you.  The 
nurse  says  she  is  a  very  strong  and  healthy  baby. 
I  wish  to  tell  you  as  early  as  possible  the  good  news 
of  God's  great  mercy  and  goodness  towards  us  in 
having  brought  your  dearest  mother  safely  through 
this  trial." 

31 


32  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

Mrs.  Inglis  writes  a  long  account  of  Elsie 
at  a  month  old,  and  says  she  is  supposed  to  have 
a  temper,  as  she  makes  herelf  heard  all  over  the 
house,  and  strongly  objects  to  being  brought 
indoors  and  put  into  her  cradle. 

In  October  she  writes  how  the  two  babies,  her 
own  and  Aunt  Ellen's  little  boy,  had  been  taken 
to  church  to  be  baptised,  the  one  by  the  name  of 
Elsie  Maude,  the  other  Cyril  Powney.  Both 
children  were  thriving,  and  no  one  would  know 
that  there  were  two  babies  in  the  house.  ^'Elsie 
always  stares  very  hard  at  papa  when  he  comes 
to  speak  to  her,  as  if  she  did  not  quite  know  what 
to  make  of  his  black  beard,  something  different 
to  what  she  is  accustomed  to  see,  but  she  gen- 
erally ends  by  laughing  at  him" — the  first  notice 
of  that  radiant  friendship  in  which  father  and 
daughter  were  to  journey  together  in  a  happy 
pilgrimage  through  life. 

Elsie  had  early  to  make  long  driving  expedi- 
tions with  her  parents,  and  her  mother  reports 
her  as  "accommodating  herself  to  circumstances, 
watching  the  trees,  sleeping  under  them,  and  the 
jolliest  little  traveller  I  ever  saw." 

In  December  1864  Mrs.  Inglis  reports  their 
return  from  camp : — 

"It  has  been  most  extraordinarily  warm  for  the 
time  of  year,  and  there  has  been  very  little  rain 


ELSIE  MAUD  INGLIS  33 

during  the  whole  twelvemonth.  People  attribute  it 
to  the  wonderful  comet  which  has  been  visible  in 
the  southern  hemisphere.  Elsie  is  very  well,  but 
she  is  a  very  little  thing  with  a  very  wee  face.  She 
has  a  famous  pair  of  large  blue  eyes,  and  it  is  quite 
remarkable  how  she  looks  about  her  and  seems  to 
observe  everything.  She  lies  in  her  bed  at  night 
in  the  dark  and  talks  away  out  loud  in  her  own  lit- 
tle language,  and  little  voice,  and  she  is  always  ready 
for  a  laugh." 

Later  on  Mrs.  Inglis  writes:  "I  think  she  is 
one  of  the  most  intelligent  babies  I  ever  met 
with." 

Every  letter  descriptive  of  the  dark,  blue- 
eyed  baby  with  the  fast  growing  light  hair, 
speaks  of  the  smile  ready  for  every  one  who 
speaks  to  her,  and  the  hearty  laughs  which  seem 
to  have  been  one  of  her  earliest  characteristics. 

One  journey  tried  Elsie's  philosophy  of  tak- 
ing life  as  she  found  it.  Mrs.  Inglis  writes  to 
her  daughter: — 

"Naini  Tal,  1865. 
"We  came  in  palkies  from  Beharin  to  a  place 
called  Jeslie,  half  way  up  the  hill  to  Naini  Tal,  and 
were  about  ten  hours  in  the  palkies.  I  had  ar- 
ranged to  have  Elsie  with  me  in  my  palkie,  but  the 
little  monkey  did  not  like  being  away  from  Sona, 
and  then  the  strangeness  of  the  whole  proceedings 
bewildered  her,  and  the  noise  of  the  bearers  seemed 
to  frighten  her,  so  I  was  obhged  to  make  her  over 


34  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

to  Sona.  She  went  to  sleep  after  a  little  while. 
As  we  came  near  the  hills  it  became  cold  and  a  wind 
got  up,  and  then  Papa  brought  her  back  to  me,  for 
we  did  not  quite  like  her  being  in  Sona's  doolie, 
which  was  not  so  well  protected  as  mine.  She  had 
become  more  reconciled  to  the  disagreeables  of  dak 
travelling  by  that  time.  We  reached  our  house 
about  nine  o'clock  yesterday  morning.  The  change 
from  the  dried-up  hot  plains  is  very  pleasant.  You 
may  imagine  how  often  I  longed  for  the  railroad 
and  our  civilised  English  way  of  travelling." 

Mrs.  Shav^  McLaren,  the  companion  sister  of 
Elsie,  and  to  w^hom  her  correspondence  alv^ays 
refers,  has  written  down  some  memories  of  the 
happy  childhood  days  in  India.  The  year  was 
divided  between  the  plains  and  the  hills  of 
India.  Elsie  was  born  in  August  1864,  at  Naini 
Tal,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  hill  stations  in  the 
Himalayas.  From  the  verandah,  where  much 
of  the  day  was  spent,  the  view  was  across  the 
masses  of  "huddled  hills"  to  the  ranges  crowned 
by  the  everlasting  snows.  An  outlook  of  silent 
and  majesti-c  stillness,  and  one  which  could  not 
fail  to  influence  such  a  spirit  as  shone  out  in  the 
always  wonderful  eyes  of  Elsie.  She  grew  up 
with  the  vision  of  the  glory  of  the  earthly  domin- 
ion, and  it  gave  a  new  meaning  to  the  kingdom 
of  the  things  of  the  spirit. 

"All  our  childhood  is  full  of  remembrances  of 


ELSIE  MAUD  INGLIS  35 

*Father.'  He  never  forgot  our  birthdays;  however 
hot  it  was  down  In  the  scorched  plains,  when  the 
day  came  round,  if  we  were  up  in  the  hills,  a  large 
parcel  would  arrive  from  him.  His  very  presence 
was  joy  and  strength  when  he  came  to  us  at  Naini 
Tal.  What  a  remembrance  there  is  of  early  walks 
and  early  breakfasts  with  him  and  the  three  of  us. 
The  table  was  spread  in  the  verandah  between  six 
and  seven.  Father  made  three  cups  of  cocoa,  one 
for  each  of  us,  and  then  the  glorious  walk!  Three 
ponies  followed  behind,  each  with  their  attendant 
grooms,  and  two  or  three  red-coated  chaprasis, 
father  stopping  all  along  the  road  to  talk  to  every 
native  who  wished  to  speak  to  him,  while  we  three 
ran  about,  laughing  and  interested  in  everything. 
Then,  at  night,  the  shouting  for  him  after  we  were 
in  bed  and  father's  step  bounding  up  the  stair  in 
Calcutta,  or  coming  along  the  matted  floor  of  our 
hill  home.  All  order  and  quietness  flung  to  the 
winds  while  he  said  good  night  to  us. 

"It  was  always  understood  that  Elsie  and  he  were 
special  chums,  but  that  never  made  any  jealousy. 
Father  was  always  just!  The  three  cups  of  cocoa 
were  exactly  the  same  in  quality  and  quantity.  We 
got  equal  shares  of  his  right  and  his  left  hand  in 
our  walks,  but  Elsie  and  he  were  comrades,  insepa- 
rables from  the  day  of  her  birth. 

"In  the  background  of  our  lives  there  was  always 
the  quiet  strong  mother,  whose  eyes  and  smile  live 
on  through  the  years.  Every  morning  before  the 
breakfast  and  walk,  there  were  five  minutes  when 


36  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

we  sat  In  front  of  her  in  a  row  on  little  chairs  In 
her  room  and  read  the  scripture  verses  in  turn,  and 
then  knelt  in  a  straight,  quiet  row  and  repeated  the 
prayers  after  her.  Only  once  can  I  remember  father 
being  angry  with  any  of  us,  and  that  was  when  one 
of  us  ventured  to  hesitate  in  instant  obedience  to 
some  wish  of  hers.  I  still  see  the  room  in  which  It 
happened,  and  the  thunder  in  his  voice  Is  Tvith  me 
still." 

Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Inglis  belonged  to  the 
iALnglican  Church,  though  they  never  hesitated 
to  go  to  any  denomination  w^here  they  found  the 
best  spiritual  life.  In  later  life  in  Edinburgh, 
they  were  connected  with  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland.  To  again  quote  from  his  daughter: 
*^His  religious  outlook  was  magnificently  broad 
and  beautiful,  and  his  belief  in  God  simple  and 
profound.  His  devotion  to  our  mother  is  a 
thing  impossible  to  speak  about,  but  we  all  feel 
that  in  some  intangible  way  it  influenced  and 
beautified  our  childhood." 

In  1870  Mrs.  Inglis  writes  of  the  lessons  of 
Elsie  and  her  sister  Eva.  "The  governess,  Mrs. 
Marwood,  is  successful  as  a  teacher;  it  comes 
easy  enough  to  Elsie  to  learn,  and  she  delights 
in  stories  being  told  her.  Every  morning  after 
their  early  morning  walk,  and  while  their  baths 
are  being  got  ready,  their  mother  says  they  come 
to  her  to  say  their  prayers  and  learn  their  Bible 


(Portrait  by  Raehurn) 


>rRS.   ROBERTSOX,   Uee    KATHERIXE    IXGLIS 
GREAT- ArXT   OF   DR.   ELSIE    IXGLIS 


ELSIE  MAUD  INGLIS  37 

lesson."  There  are  two  letters  more  or  less  com- 
posed by  Elsie  and  written  by  her  father.  In  as 
far  as  they  were  dictated  by  herself,  they  take 
stock  of  independent  ways,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
Pharisee  is  early  developed  in  the  courts  of  the 
Lord's  House,  as  she  manages  not  to  fall  asleep 
all  the  time,  while  the  weaker  little  sister 
slumbers  and  sleeps. 

Eva,  the  sleepy  sister,  has  some  further  remi- 
niscences of  these  nursery  days: — 

"We  had  forty  dolls!  Elsie  decreed  once  that 
they  should  all  have  measles — so  days  were  spent  by 
us  three  painting  little  red  dots  all  over  the  forty 
faces  and  the  forty  pairs  of  arms  and  legs.  She 
was  the  doctor  and  prescribed  gruesome  drugs 
which  we  had  to  administer.  Then  It  was  decreed 
that  they  should  slowly  recover,  so  each  day  so  many 
spots  were  washed  oii  until  the  epidemic  was  wiped 
out! 

"Another  time  one  of  the  forty  dolls  was  lost! 
Maria  was  small  and  ugly,  but  much  loved,  and  the 
search  for  her  was  tremendous,  but  unsuccessful. 
The  younger  sister  gave  It  up.  After  all  there 
were  plenty  other  dolls — never  mind  Maria !  But 
Elsie  stuck  to  It.  Maria  must  be  found.  Father 
would  find  her  when  he  came  home  from  Kutcherry 
in  the  evening,  If  nobody  else  could.  So  father  was 
told  with  many  tears  of  Maria's  disappearance. 
He  agreed — Maria  must  be  found.  The  next  day 
all  the  enormous  staff  of  Indian  servants,  number- 


38  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

ing  all  told  about  thirty  or  so,  were  had  up  in  a  row 
and  told  that  unless  Maria  was  found  sixpence 
would  be  cut  from  each  servant's  pay  for  inter- 
minable months!  What  a  search  ensued!  and 
Maria  came  to  light  within  half  an  hour — in  the 
pocket  of  one  of  the  dresses  of  her  little  mistress 
found  by  one  of  the  ayahs !  Her  mistress  declared 
at  the  time,  and  always  maintained  with  undimin- 
ished certainty,  that  she  had  first  been  put  there,  and 
then  found  by  the  ayah  in  question  during  that  half- 
hour's  search!" 

These  reminiscences  have  more  of  interest 
than  just  the  picture  of  the  little  child  who  was 
to  carry  on  the  early  manifestations  of  a  keen  in- 
terest in  life.  A  smile,  surely  one  of  the  clouds 
of  glory  she  trailed  from  heaven,  and  carried 
back  untarnished  by  the  tragedies  of  a  stricken 
earth ;  they  are  chiefly  valuable  in  the  signs  of  a 
steadfast,  independent  will.  The  interest  of  all 
Elsie's  early  development  lay  in  the  comrade- 
ship with  a  father  whose  wide  benevolence  and 
understanding  love  was  to  be  the  guide  and 
helper  in  his  daughter's  career.  Not  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  outstanding  lives,  the 
daughter  has  been  the  friend,  and  not  the  sub- 
jugated child  of  a  selfish  and  dominant  parent. 

The  date  of  Elsie's  birth  was  in  the  dawn  of 
the  movement  which  believed  it  possible  that 
women  could  have  a  mind  and  a  brain  of  their 


ELSIE  MAUD  INGLIS  39 

own,  and  that  the  freedom  of  the  one  and  the 
cultivation  of  the  other  was  not  a  menace  to  the 
possessive  rights  of  the  family,  or  the  ruin  of 
society  at  large.  Thousands  of  women  born  at 
the  same  date  were  instructed  that  the  aim  of 
their  lives  must  be  to  see  to  the  creature  com- 
forts of  their  male  parent,  and  when  he  was 
taken  from  them,  to  believe  it  right  that  he  had 
neither  educated  them,  nor  made  provision  for 
the  certain  old  age  and  spinsterdom  which  lay 
before  the  majority. 

There  have  been  many  parents  who  gave  their 
daughters  no  reason  to  call  them  blessed,  when 
they  w^ere  left  alone  unprovided  with  gear  or 
education.  In  all  periods  of  family  history, 
such  instances  as  Mr.  Inglis'  outlook  for  his 
daughters  is  uncommon.  He  desired  for  them 
equal  opportunities,  and  the  best  and  highest 
education.  He  gave  them  the  best  of  his  mind, 
not  its  dregs,  and  a  comradeship  which  made  a 
rare  and  happy  entrance  for  them  into  life's 
daily  toil  and  struggle.  The  father  asked  for 
nothing  but  their  love,  and  he  had  his  own  un- 
selfish devotion  returned  to  him  a  hundredfold. 

It  must  have  been  a  great  joy  to  him  to  watch 
the  unfolding  of  talent  and  great  gifts  in  this 
daughter  who  was  always  ''his  comrade."  He 
could  not  live  to  see  the  end  of  a  career  so 
blessed,  so  rich  in  womanly  grace  and  sustaining 


40  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

service,  but  he  knew  he  had  spared  no  good 
thing  he  could  bring  into  her  life,  and  when  her 
mission  was  fulfilled,  then,  those  who  read  and 
inwardly  digest  these  pages  will  feel  that  she 
first  learnt  the  secret  of  service  to  mankind  in 
the  home  of  her  father. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  LADDER  OF  LEARNING 

1876-1885 

"Hast  thou  come  with  the  heart  of  thy  childhood  back: 
The  free,  the  pure,  the  kind? 
So  murmured  the  trees  in  my  homeward  track, 
As  they  played  to  the  mountain  wind. 

"Hath  thy  soul  been  true  to  its  early  love? 
Whispered  my  native  streams. 
Hath  the  spirit  nurs'd  amid  hill  and  grove, 
Still  revered  its  first  high  dream?" 

After  Mr.  Inglis  had  been  Chief  Commissioner 
of  Oudh,  he  decided  to  retire  from  his  long  and 
arduous  service.  Had  he  been  given  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governorship of  the  North-West,  as  was 
expected  by  some  in  the  service,  he  would  prob- 
ably have  accepted  it  and  remained  longer  in 
India.  He  was  not  in  sympathy  with  Lord 
Lytton's  Afghan  policy,  and  that  would  natu- 
rally alter  his  desire  for  further  employment. 
As  with  his  father  before  him,  his  work  was 
highly  appreciated  by  those  he  served.  Lord 
Lytton,  the  Viceroy,  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Salis- 
bury, then  Secretary  of  State  for  India,  writes, 
February  1876: — 

41 


42  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

"During  the  short  period  of  my  own  official  ten- 
ure I  have  met  with  much  valuable  assistance  from 
Mr.  Inglis,  both  as  a  member  of  my  Legislative 
Council,  and  also  as  officiating  Commissioner  in 
Oudh,  more  especially  as  regards  the  amalgama- 
tion of  Oudh  with  the  N.W.  Provinces.  Of  his 
character  and  abilities  I  have  formed  so  high  an 
opinion  that  had  there  been  an  available  vacancy 
I  should  have  been  glad  to  secure  to  my  government 
his  continued  services." 

Tw^o  of  Mr.  Inglis'  sons  had  settled  in  Tas- 
mania, and  it  v^as  decided  to  go  there  before 
bringing  home  the  younger  members  of  his 
family.  The  eldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Simson,  was 
novs^  married  and  settled  in  Edinburgh,  and  the 
Inglis  determined  to  make  their  home  in  that 
city. 

Tv^o  years  were  spent  in  Hobart  settling  the 
two  sons  on  the  land.     Mrs.  M'Laren  says: — 

"When  in  Tasmania,  Elsie  and  I  went  to  a  very 
good  school.  Miss  Knott,  the  head-mistress,  had 
come  out  from  Cheltenham  College  for  Girls.  Here 
in  the  days  when  such  things  were  practically  un- 
known, Elsie,  backed  by  Miss  Knott,  instituted 
*school  colours.'  They  were  very  primitive,  not 
beautiful  hatbands,  but  two  inches  of  blue  and  white 
ribbon  sewn  on  to  a  safety  pin,  and  worn  on  the 
lapel  of  our  coats.     How  proud  we  were  of  them." 


THE  LADDER  OF  LEARNING  43 

Mr.  Inglis,  writing  to  his  daughter  in  Edin- 
burgh, says  of  their  school  life: — 

"Elsie  has  done  very  well,  she  Is  in  the  second 
class  and  last  week  got  up  to  second  in  the  class. 

*'We  are  all  in  a  whirl  having  to  sort  and  send 
off  our  boxes,  some  round  the  Cape,  some  to  Mel- 
bourne, and  some  to  go  with  us." 

Mrs.  Inglis,  on  board  the  Durham  homeward 
bound,  writes: — 

"Elsie  has  found  occupation  for  herself  in  help- 
ing to  nurse  sick  children,  and  look  after  turbulent 
boys  who  trouble  everybody  on  board,  and  a  baby 
of  seven  months  old  is  an  especial  favourite  with 
her.  Eva  has  met  with  a  bosom  friend  in  a  little 
girl  named  Pearly  Macmlllan,  without  whom  she 
would  have  collapsed  altogether.  Our  vessel  Is  not 
a  fast  one,  but  we  have  been  only  five  instead  of  six 
weeks  getting  to  Suez." 

The  family  took  a  house  at  70  Bruntsfield 
Place,  and  the  two  girls  were  soon  at  school. 
Mrs.  MXaren  says: — 

"Elsie  and  I  used  to  go  daily  to  the  Charlotte 
Square  Institution,  which  used  in  those  days  to  be  the 
Edinburgh  school  for  girls.  Mr.  Oliphant  was  head- 
master. Father  never  approved  of  the  Scotch  cus- 
tom of  children  walking  long  distances  to  school, 
and  we  used  to  be  sent  every  morning  in  a  cab.  The 
other  day,  when  telling  the  story  of  the  S.W.H.'s 


44.  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

to  a  large  audience  of  working  women  in  Edinburgh, 
one  woman  said  to  me,  'My  husband  is  a  prood  man 
the  day !  He  tells  everybody  how  he  used  to  drive 
Dr.  Inglis  to  school  every  morning  when  she  was 
a  girl.'  " 

Of  her  school  life  in  Edinburgh,  Miss  Wright 
gives  these  memories: — 

"I  remember  quite  distinctly  when  the  girls  of 
23  Charlotte  Square  were  told  that  two  girls  from 
Tasmania  were  coming  to  the  school,  and  a  certain 
feeling  of  surprise  that  the  said  girls  were  just  like 
ordinary  mortals,  though  the  big,  earnest  brows 
and  the  quaint  hair  parted  in  the  middle  and  done 
up  in  plaits  fastened  up  at  the  back  of  the  head  were 
certainly  not  ordinary.  Elsie  was  put  in  a  higher 
English  class  than  I  was  in,  and  though  I  knew  her, 
I  did  not  know  her  very  well. 

"A  friend  has  a  story  of  a  question  going  round 
the  class,  she  thinks  Clive  or  Warren  Hastings  was 
the  subject  of  the  lesson,  and  the  question  was  what 
one  would  do  if  a  calumny  were  spread  about  one. 
'Deny  it,'  one  girl  answered.  'Fight  it,'  another. 
Still  the  teacher  went  on  asking.  'Live  it  down,' 
said  Elsie.  'Right,  Miss  Inglis.'  My  friend 
writes,  'The  question  I  cannot  remember,  it  was  the 
bright  confident  smile  with  the  answer,  and  Mr. 
Hossack's  dehghted  wave  to  the  top  of  the  class 
that  abides  in  my  memory.' 

"I  always  think  a  very  characteristic  story  of  El- 
sie is  her  asking  that  the  school  might  have  permis- 


THE  LADDER  OF  LEARNING  45 

slon  to  play  in  Charlotte  Square  gardens.  In  those 
days  no  one  thought  of  providing  fresh  air  exercise 
for  girls  except  by  walks,  and  tennis  was  just  coming 
in.  Elsie  had  the  courage  (to  us  schoolgirls  it 
seemed  the  extraordinary  courage)  to  confront  the 
three  directors  of  the  school  and  ask  if  we  might  be 
allowed  to  play  in  the  gardens  of  the  Square.  The 
three  directors  together  were  to  us  the  most  for- 
midable and  awe-inspiring  body,  though  separately 
they  were  amiable  and  estimable  men! 

"The  answer  was  we  might  play  in  the  gardens  if 
the  neighbouring  proprietors  would  give  their  con- 
sent, and  the  heroic  Elsie,  with  I  think  one  other  girl, 
actually  went  round  to  each  house  in  the  Square  and 
asked  consent  of  the  owner. 

'Tn  those  days  the  inhabitants  of  Charlotte 
Square  were  very  select  and  exclusive  indeed,  and 
we  all  felt  it  was  a  brave  thing  to  do.  Elsie  gained 
her  point,  and  the  girls  played  at  certain  hours  in 
the  Square  till  a  regular  playing  field  was  arranged." 

Her  sister  Eva  reports  that  the  first  answer 
of  the  directors  was  enough  for  the  rest  of  the 
school.  But  Elsie,  undaunted,  interviewed  each 
of  the  three  directors  herself.  After  every  bell 
in  Charlotte  Square  had  been  rung  and  all  inter- 
viewed, she  returned  from  this  great  expedition 
triumphant.  All  had  consented,  so  the  damsels 
interned  from  nine  to  three  were  given  the  gar- 
dens, and  the  grim,  dull,  palisaded  square  must 
have  suddenly  been  made  to  blossom  like  the 


46  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

rose.  Would  that  some  follower  of  Elsie  Inglis 
even  now  might  ring  the  door  bells  and  get  the 
gates  unlocked  to  the  rising  generation.  Elsie's 
companion  or  companions  in  this  first  attempt 
to  influence  those  in  authority  have  been  spoken 
of  as  ^'her  first  unit." 

Elsie  was,  for  a  time,  joint  editor  of  the  Edina, 
a  school  magazine  of  the  ordinary  type.  Her 
great  achievement  was  in  making  it  pay,  which, 
it  is  recorded,  no  other  editor  was  able  to  do. 
There  are  various  editorial  anxieties  alluded  to 
in  her  correspondence  with  her  father.  The 
memories  quoted  take  us  further  than  school 
days,  but  they  find  a  fitting  place  here. 

*'Our  more  Intimate  acquaintance  came  after  Mrs. 
Inglis'  death  and  when  Elsie  was  thinking  of  and 
beginning  her  medical  work.  In  1888  six  of  us 
girls  who  had  been  at  the  same  school  started  the 
*SIx  Sincere  Students  Society,'  which  met  In  one 
house.  The  first  year  we  read  and  discussed  Emer- 
son's Essays  on  *Self-RelIance  and  Heroism.'  I  am 
pretty  sure  It  was  Elsie  who  suggested  those  Es- 
says. Also,  Helps,  and  Matthew  Arnold's  Culture 
and  Anarchy,  I  have  a  note  on  this  'two  very  hot 
discussions  as  to  what  Culture  means,  and  if  It  is 
sufficiently  powerful  to  regenerate  the  world.  Cul- 
ture of  the  masses  and  also  of  women  largely  gone 
into.' 

'This  very  friendly  and  happy  society  lasted  on 


THE  LADDER  OF  LEARNING  47 

till  1 89 1,  when  it  was  enlarged  and  became  a  Debat* 
ing  Society.  I  find  Elsie  taking  up  such  subjects 
as  'That  our  modern  civilisation  is  a  development 
not  a  degeneration.'  'That  character  is  formed  in  a 
busy  life  rather  than  in  solitude.'  Papers  on  Henry 
Drummond's  Ascent  of  Man,  and  on  the  'Ethics  of 
War.' 

"Always  associated  with  Eslie  In  those  days  I 
think  of  her  father,  and  no  biography  of  her  will 
be  true  which  does  not  emphasise  the  beautiful  and 
deep  love  and  sympathy  between  Elsie  and  Mr. 
Inglis.  He  used  to  meet  us  girls  as  if  we  were  his 
intellectual  equals,  and  would  discuss  problems  and 
answer  our  questions  with  the  utmost  cordiality  and 
appreciation  of  our  point  of  view,  and  always  there 
was  the  feeling  of  the  entire  understanding  and 
fellowship  between  father  and  daughter. 

"She  was  a  keen  croquet  player,  and  tolerated 
no  frivolity  when  a  stroke  either  at  croquet  or  golf 
were  in  the  balance.  She  was  fond  of  long  walks 
with  Mr.  Inglis,  and  then  by  herself,  and  time  never 
hung  on  her  hands  in  holiday  time,  she  was  always 
serene  and  happy." 

It  was  decided  that  Elsie  should  go  to  school 
in  Paris  in  September  1882 — a  decision  not 
lightly  made;  and  Mr.  Inglis  writes  after  her 
departure: — 

"Ido  not  think  I  could  have  borne  to  part  with 
you,  my  darling,  did  I  not  feel  the  assurance  that 
in  doing  so  we  are  following  the  Lord's  guidance. 


48  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

Your  dear  mother  and  I  both  made  it  the  subject  of 
earnest  prayer,  and  I  feel  we  have  been  guided  to 
do  what  was  best  for  you;  and  we  shall  see  this  when 
the  weary  time  is  over,  and  we  have  got  you  back 
again  with  us. 

"When  I  return  to  Edinburgh,  I  feel  that  I  shall 
have  no  one  to  find  out  my  Psalms  for  me,  or  to  cut 
my  Spectator,  that  we  shall  have  no  more  discus- 
sions regarding  the  essays  of  Mr.  Eraser,  and  no 
more  anxieties  about  the  forthcoming  number  of 
the  Edina,     The  nine  months  will  pass  quickly." 

Elsie's  letters  from  Paris  have  not  been  pre- 
served, but  the  ones  from  her  father  show^  the 
alert  intelligence  and  interest  in  all  she  w^as  re- 
porting. Of  the  events  at  home  and  abroad, 
Mr.  Inglis  writes  to  her  of  the  Suez  Canal,  the 
bringing  to  justice  of  the  Phoenix  Park  murder- 
ers, the  great  snowstorm  at  home,  and  the  Chan- 
nel Tunnel.  Mrs.  Inglis  writes  with  maternal 
scepticism  on  some  passing  events:  "I  cannot 
imagine  you  making  the  body  of  your  dress.  I 
think  there  would  not  be  many  carnivals  if  you 
had  to  make  the  dresses  yourselves."  Mr.  Inglis, 
equally  sceptical,  has  a  more  satisfactory  solu- 
tion for  dress-making.  "I  hope  you  have  more 
than  one  dinner  frock,  two  or  three,  and  let  them 
be  pretty  ones."  Mrs.  Inglis,  commenting  on 
Elsie's  description  of  Gambetta's  funeral,  says: 
*^He  is  a  loss  to  France.     Poor  France,  she  al- 


THE  LADDER  OF  LEARNING  49 

ways  seems  to  me  like  a  vessel  without  a  helm 
driven  about  just  where  the  winds  take  it.  She 
has  no  sound  Christian  principle  to  guide  her. 
So  different  from  our  highly  favoured  Eng- 
land." 

Mr.  Inglis'  letters  are  full  of  the  courteous 
consideration  for  Elsie  and  for  others  which 
marked  all  the  way  of  his  life,  and  made  him 
the  man  greatly  beloved,  in  whatever  sphere  he 
moved.  Punch  and  the  Spectator  went  from 
him  every  week,  and  he  writes:  ^'I  hope  there 
was  nothing  in  that  number  of  Punch  you  gave 
M.  Survelle  to  study  while  you  were  finishing 
your  breakfast  to  hurt  his  feelings  as  a  French- 
man. Punch  has  not  been  very  complimentary 
to  them  of  late."  And  w^hen  Elsie's  sense  of 
humour  had  been  moved  by  a  saying  of  her 
gouvernante^  Mr.  Inglis  writes,  desirous  of  a 
very  free  correspondence  with  home,  but — 

*'I  fear  if  I  send  your  letter  to  Eva,  at  school, 

that  your  remark  about  Miss  proposal  to  go 

down  to  the  lower  flat  of  your  house,  because  the 
Earl  of  Anglesea  once  lived  there,  may  be  repeated 
and  ultimately  reach  her  with  exaggerations,  as  those 
things  always  do,  and  may  cause  unpleasant  feel- 
ings." 

There  must  have  been  some  exhibition  of 
British  independence,  and  in  dealing  with  it  Mr. 
Inglis  reminds  Elsie  of  a  day  in  India  "when 


60  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

you  went  off  for  a  walk  by  yourself,  and  we  all 
thought  you  were  lost,  and  all  the  Thampanies 
and  chaprasies  and  everybody  were  searching 
for  you  all  over  the  hill."  One  later  episode 
was  not  on  a  hillside,  and  except  for  les  demoi- 
selles in  Paris,  equally  harmless. 

''Jan,  1883. 

"I  can  quite  sympathise  with  you,  my  darling,  In 
the  annoyance  you  feel  at  not  having  told  Miss 
Brown  of  your  having  walked  home  part  of  the  way 

from  Madame  M last  Wednesday.     It  would 

have  been  far  better  if  you  had  told  her,  as  you 
wished  to  do,  what  had  happened.  Concealment  Is 
always  wrong,  and  very  often  turns  what  was  orig- 
inally only  a  trifle  Into  a  serious  matter.  In  this 
case,  I  don't  suppose  Miss  B.  could  have  said  much 
If  you  had  told  her,  though  she  may  be  seriously 
angry  if  it  comes  to  her  knowledge  hereafter.  If 
she  does  hear  of  it,  you  had  better  tell  her  that  you 
told  me  all  about  It,  and  that  I  advised  you,  under 
the  circumstances,  as  you  had  not  told  her  at  the 
time,  and  that  as  by  doing  so  now  you  could  only  get 
the  others  into  trouble,  npt  to  say  anything  about  It; 
but  keep  clear  of  these  things  for  the  future,  my 
darling." 

When  the  end  came  here,  in  this  life,  one  of 
her  school-fellows  wrote: — 

"Elsie  has  been  and  Is  such  a  world-wide  Inspira- 
tion to  all  who  knew  her.  One  more  can  testify  to 
the  blessedness  of  her  friendship.     Ever  since  the 


THE  LADDER  OF  LEARNING  51 

Paris  days  of  '83  her  strong  loving  help  was  ready 
In  difficult  times,  and  such  wonderfully  strengthen- 
ing comfort  In  sorrow." 

The  Paris  education  ended  in  the  summer  of 
1883,  and  Miss  Brown,  who  conducted  and  lived 
with  the  seven  girls  who  went  out  with  her  from 
England,  writes  after  their  departure: — 

**I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  felt  when  you  all 
disappeared,  and  how  sad  It  was  to  go  back  to  look 
at  your  deserted  places.  I  cannot  at  all  realise  that 
you  are  now  all  separated,  and  that  we  may  never 
meet  again  on  earth.  May  we  meet  often  at  the 
throne  of  grace,  and  remember  each  other  there. 
It  Is  nice  to  have  a  French  maid  to  keep  up  the  con- 
versations, and  if  you  will  read  French  aloud,  even 
to  yourself,  it  Is  of  use." 

Paris  was,  no  doubt,  an  education  in  itself, 
but  the  perennial  hope  of  fond  parents  that  lan- 
guages and  music  are  in  the  air  of  the  continent, 
were  once  again  disappointed  in  Elsie.  She  was 
timber-tuned  in  ear  and  tongue,  and  though  she 
would  always  say  her  mind  in  any  vehicle  for 
thought,  the  accent  and  the  grammar  strayed 
along  truly  British  lines.  Her  eldest  niece  sup- 
plies a  note  on  her  music: — 

"She  was  still  a  schoolgirl  when  they  returned 
from  Tasmania.  At  that  time  she  was  learning 
music  at  school.     I  thought  her  a  wonderful  per- 


52  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

former  on  the  piano,  but  afterwards  her  musical 
capabilities  became  a  family  joke  which  no  one  en- 
joyed more  than  herself.  She  had  two  ^pieces' 
which  she  could  play  by  heart,  of  the  regular  ar- 
peggio drawing-room  style,  and  these  always  had 
to  be  performed  at  any  family  function  as  one  of 
the  standing  entertainments." 

Elsie  returned  from  Paris,  the  days  of  the 
school-girlhood  left  behind.  Her  character 
was  formed,  and  she  had  the  sense  of  latent 
powers.  She  had  not  been  long  at  home  when 
her  mother  died  of  a  virulent  attack  of  scarlet 
fever,  and  Mr.  Inglis  lost  the  lodestar  of  his 
loving  nature.  ^Trom  that  day  Elsie  shoul- 
dered all  father's  burdens,  and  they  two  went  on 
together  until  his  death." 

In  her  desk,  when  it  was  opened,  these  "Reso- 
lutions" were  found.  They  are  written  in  pencil, 
and  belong  to  the  date  when  she  became  the 
stay  and  comfort  of  her  father's  remaining 
years: — 

"I  must  give  up  dreaming, — making  stories. 

"I  must  give  up  getting  cross. 

"I  must  devote  my  mind  more  to  the  housekeep- 
ing. 

"I  must  be  more  thorough  in  everything. 

"I  must  be  truthful. 

"The  bottom  of  the  whole  evil  is  the  habit  of 
dreaming,  which  must  be  given  up.  So  help  me, 
God.  "Elsie  Inglis." 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  STUDENT  DAYS 
1 885-1 892 

EDINBURGH— GLASGOW 

"Let  knowledge  grow  from  more  to  more, 
But  more  of  reverence  in  us  dwell; 
That  mind  and  soul,  according  well, 
May  make  one  music  as  before, 
But  vaster." 

"I  REMEMBER  well  the  day  Elsie  came  in  and, 
sitting  down  beside  father,  divulged  her  plan 
of  Agoing  in  for  medicine.'  I  still  see  and  hear 
him,  taking  it  all  so  perfectly  calmly  and  natu- 
rally, and  setting  to  work  at  once  to  overcome 
the  difficulties  which  were  in  the  way,  for  even 
then  all  was  not  plain  sailing  for  the  woman  who 
desired  to  study  medicine."  So  writes  Mrs. 
MXaren,  looking  back  on  the  days  when  the 
future  doctor  recognised  her  vocation  and  minis- 
try. If  it  had  been  a  profession  of  "plain  sail- 
ing," the  adventurous  spirit  would  probably  not 
have  embarked  in  that  particular  vessel.  The 
seas  had  only  just  been  charted,  and  not  every 

53 


54  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

shoal  had  been  marked.  In  the  midst  of  them 
Elsie's  bark  was  to  have  its  hairbreadth  escapes. 
The  University  Commission  decided  that  women 
should  not  be  excluded  any  longer  from  receiv- 
ing degrees  owing  to  their  sex.  The  writer 
recollects  the  description  given  of  the  discussion 
by  the  late  Sir  Arthur  Mitchell,  K.C.B.,  one  of 
the  most  enlightened  minds  of  the  age  in  which 
he  lived  and  achieved  so  much.  He,  and  one  or 
more  of  his  colleagues,  presented  the  Commis- 
sioners with  the  following  problem :  ^'Why  not? 
On  what  theory  or  doctrine  was  it  just  or  benefi- 
cent to  exclude  women  from  University  de- 
grees?" There  came  no  answer,  for  logic  can- 
not be  altogether  ignored  by  a  University  Com- 
mission, so,  without  opposition  or  blare  of 
trumpets,  the  Scottish  Universities  opened  their 
degrees  to  all  students.  It  was  of  good  omen 
that  the  Commission  sat  in  high  Dunedin,  under 
that  rock  bastion  where  Margaret,  saint  and 
queen,  was  the  most  learned  member  of  the  Scot- 
tish nation  in  the  age  in  which  she  reigned. 

Dr.  Jex  Blake  had  founded  the  Edinburgh 
School  of  Medicine  for  Women,  and  it  was 
there  that  Elsie  received  her  first  medical  teach- 
ing. Everything  was  still  in  its  initial  stages, 
and  every  step  in  the  higher  education  of'women 
had  to  be  fought  and  won,  against  the  forces  of 
obscurantism  and  professional  jealousy. 


THE  STUDENT  DAYS  65 

University  Commissions  might  issue  reports, 
but  the  working  out  of  them  was  left  in  the 
hands  of  men  who  were  determined  to  exclude 
women  from  the  medical  profession. 

Clinical  teaching  could  only  be  carried  on  in 
a  few  hospitals.  Anatomy  was  learnt  under  the 
most  discouraging  circumstances.  Mixed  classes 
were,  and  still  are,  refused.  Extra-mural  teach- 
ing became  complicated,  on  the  one  hand,  by 
the  extra  fees  which  were  wrung  from  women 
students,  and  by  the  careless  and  perfunctory 
teaching  accorded  by  the  twice-paid  profession. 
Professors  gave  the  off-scourings  of  their  minds, 
the  least  valuable  of  their  subjects,  and  their  un- 
punctual  attendance  to  all  that  stood  for  female 
students.  It  will  hardly  be  believed  that  the 
Royal  Infirmary  of  Edinburgh  refused  to  admit 
women  to  clinical  teaching  in  the  wards,  until 
they  had  raised  seven  hundred  pounds  to  furnish 
two  wards  in  w^hich,  and  in  which  alone,  they 
might  w^ork.  To  these  two  wards,  with  their 
selected  cases,  they  are  still  confined,  with  the 
exception  of  one  or  two  other  less  important 
subjects.  Medicals  rarely  belong  to  the  moneyed 
classes,  and  very  few  women  can  command  the 
money  demanded  of  the  medical  course,  and  that 
women  should  have  raised  at  once  the  tax  thus 
put  upon  them  by  the  Royal  Infirmary  is  an 
illustration   of   how   keenly   and   bravely   they 


56  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

fought  through  all  the  disabilities  laid  upon 
them. 

Women  had  always  staunch  friends  among 
the  doctors.  The  names  of  many  of  them  are 
written  in  gold  in  the  story  of  the  opening  of  the 
profession  to  women.  It  has  been  observed  that 
St.  Paul  had  the  note  of  all  great  minds,  a  pas- 
sion to  share  his  knowledge  of  a  great  salvation, 
with  both  Jews  and  Gentiles.  That  test  of  great- 
ness was  not  conspicuous  in  the  majority  of  the 
medical  profession  at  the  time  when  Elsie  Inglis 
came  as  a  learner  to  the  gates  of  medical  science. 
That  kingdom,  like  most  others,  had  to  suffer 
violence  ere  she  was  to  be  known  as  the  good 
physician  in  her  native  city  and  in  those  of  the 
allied  nations. 

^'There  are  no  letters  extant  from  Elsie  con- 
cerning her  time"  with  Dr.  Jex  Blake.  After 
Mrs.  Inglis^  death,  Mr.  Inglis  decided  to  leave 
their  home  at  Bruntsfield,  and  the  family  moved 
to  rooms  in  Melville  Street.  Here  Elsie  was 
with  her  father,  and  carried  on  her  studies  from 
his  house.  It  was  not  an  altogether  happy  start, 
and  very  soon  she  had  occasion  to  differ  pro- 
foundly with  Dr.  Jex  Blake  in  her  management 
of  the  school.  Two  of  the  students  failed  to 
observe  the  discipline  imposed  by  Dr.  Jex  Blake, 
and  she  expelled  them  from  the  school.  Any 
high-handed  act  of  injustice  always  roused  Elsie 


THE  STUDENT  DAYS  57 

to  keen  and  concentrated  resistance.  A  lawsuit 
was  brought  against  Dr.  Jex  Blake,  and  it  was 
successful,  proving  in  its  course  that  the  treat- 
ment of  the  students  had  been  without  justifi- 
cation. 

Looking  back  on  this  period  of  the  difficult 
task  of  opening  the  higher  education  to  women, 
it  is  easy  to  see  the  defects  of  many  of  those  en- 
gaged in  the  struggle.  The  attitude  towards 
women  was  so  intolerably  unjust  that  many  of 
the  pioneers  became  embittered  in  soul,  and  had 
in  their  bearing  to  friends  or  opponents  an  air 
which  was  often  provocative  of  misunderstand- 
ing. They  did  not  always  receive  from  the 
younger  generation  for  whom  they  had  fought 
that  forbearance  that  must  be  always  extended  to 
'^the  old  guard,"  whose  scars  and  defects  are  but 
the  blemishes  of  a  hardly-contested  battle.  Suc- 
cess often  makes  people  autocratic,  and  those 
who  benefit  from  the  success,  and  suffer  under 
the  overbearing  spirit  engendered,  forget  their 
great  gains  in  the  galling  sensation  of  being  rid- 
den over  rough-shod.  It  is  an  episode  on  which 
it  is  now  unnecessary  to  dwell,  and  Dr.  Inglis 
would  always  have  been  the  first  to  render  hom- 
age to  the  great  pioneer  work  of  Dr.  Jex  Blake. 

Through  it  all  Elsie  was  living  in  the  pres- 
ence chamber  of  her  father's  chivalrous,  high- 
minded  outlook.  Whatever  action  she  took  then, 


58  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

must  have  had  his  approval,  and  it  v^as  from 
him  that  she  received  that  keen  sense  of  equal 
justice  for  all. 

These  student  years  threw^  them  more  than 
ever  together.  On  Sundays  they  vs^orshipped  in 
the  morning  in  Free  St.  George's  Church,  and 
in  the  evening  in  the  Episcopal  Cathedral.  Mr. 
Inglis  v^as  a  great  walker,  and  Elsie  said,  "I 
learnt  to  w^alk  when  I  used  to  take  those  long 
walks  with  father,  after  mother  died."  Then 
she  would  explain  how  you  should  walk.  "Your 
whole  body  should  go  into  it,  and  not  just  your 
feet." 

Of  these  student  days  her  niece,  Evelyn  Sim- 
son,  says: — 

"When  she  was  about  eighteen  she  began  to  wear 
a  bonnet  on  Sunday.  She  was  the  last  girl  in  our 
connection  to  wear  one.  My  Aunt  Eva  who  is  two 
years  younger  never  did,  so  I  think  the  fashion  must 
have  changed  just  then.  I  remember  thinking  how 
very  grown  up  she  must  be," 

Another  niece  writes: — 

"At  the  time  when  it  became  the  fashion  for  ^rls 
to  wear  their  hair  short,  when  she  went  out  one  day, 
and  came  home  with  a  closely-cropped  head,  I  bit- 
terly resented  the  loss  of  Aunt  Elsie's  beautiful  shin- 
ing fair  hair,  which  had  been  a  real  glory  to  her 
face.     She  herself  was  most  delighted  with  the  new 


THE  STUDENT  DAYS  69 

style,  especially  with  the  saving  of  trouble  in  hair- 
dressing. 

"She  only  allowed  her  hair  to  grow  long  again 
because  she  thought  it  was  better  for  a  woman  doc- 
tor to  dress  well  and  as  becomingly  as  possible.  This 
opinion  only  grew  as  she  became  older,  and  had 
been  longer  In  the  profession;  In  her  student  days 
she  rather  prided  herself  on  not  caring  about  per- 
sonal appearance,  and  she  dressed  very  badly. 

"Her  sense  of  falrplay  was  very  strong.  Once 
In  college  there  was  an  opposition  aroused  to  the 
Student  Christian  Union,  and  a  report  was  spread 
that  the  students  belonging  to  It  were  neglecting 
their  college  work.  It  happened  to  be  the  time 
for  the  class  examinations,  and  the  lists  were  posted 
on  the  College  notice-board.  The  next  morning, 
the  initials  C.U.  were  found  printed  opposite  the 
names  of  all  the  students  who  belonged  to  the  Chris- 
tian Union,  and,  as  these  happened  to  head  the  list 
in  most  instances,  the  unfair  report  was  effectually 
silenced.  No  one  knew  who  had  initialed  the  list; 
it  was  some  time  afterwards  I  discovered  it  had 
been  Aunt  Elsie. 

"She  was  a  beautiful  needlewoman.  She  em- 
broidered and  made  entirely  herself  two  lovely  lit- 
tle flannel  garments  for  her  first  grand-nephew,  in 
the  midst  of  her  busy  life,  then  filled  to  overflowing 
with  the  work  of  her  growing  practice,  and  of  her 
suffrage  activities. 

"The  babies  as  they  arrived  in  the  families  met 
with  her  special  love.     In  her  short  summer  holi- 


60  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

days  with  any  of  us,  the  children  were  her  great 
delight. 

*'She  was  a  great  believer  in  an  open-air  life.  One 
summer  she  took  three  of  us  a  short  walking  tour 
from  Callander,  and  we  did  enjoy  it.  We  tramped 
over  the  hills,  and  finally  arrived  at  Crianlarich, 
only  to  find  the  hotel  crammed  and  no  sleeping  ac- 
commodation. She  would  take  no  refusal,  and  per- 
suaded the  manager  to  let  us  sleep  on  mattresses  in 
the  drawing-room,  which  added  to  the  adventures 
of  our  trip. 

'*0n  the  way  she  entertained  us  with  tales  of  her 
college  life,  and  imbued  us  with  our  first  enthusiasm 
for  the  women's  cause. 

"When  I  myself  began  to  study  medicine,  no  one 
could  have  been  more  enthusiastically  encouraging, 
and  even  through  the  stormy  and  somewhat  de- 
pressing times  of  the  early  career  of  the  Medical 
College  for  Women,  Edinburgh,  her  faith  and 
vision  never  faltered,  and  she  helped  us  all  to  hold 
on  courageously." 

In  1 89 1  Elsie  went  to  Glasgow^  to  take  the 
examination  for  the  Triple  Qualification  at  the 
Medical  School  there.  She  could  not  then  take 
surgery  in  Edinburgh,  and  the  facilities  for 
clinical  teaching  v^ere  all  more  favourable  in 
Glasgov^. 

It  v^as  probably  better  for  her  to  be  aw^ay  from 
all  the  difficulties  connected  with  the  opening 
of  the  second  School  of  Medicine  for  Women 


THE  STUDENT  DAYS  61 

in  Edinburgh.  The  one  founded  by  Dr.  Jex 
Blake  was  the  Edinburgh  School  of  Medicine 
for  Women,  and  the  one  promoted  by  Elsie 
Inglis  and  other  women  students  was  known  as 
the  Medical  College  for  Women.  ^'It  was  with 
the  fortunes  of  this  school  that  she  was  more 
closely  associated,"  writes  Dr.  Beatrice  Russell. 
In  Glasgow  she  resided  at  the  Y.W.C.A.  Hos- 
tel. Her  father  did  not  wish  her  to  live  alone 
in  lodgings,  and  she  accommodated  herself  very 
willingly  to  the  conditions  under  which  she  had 
to  live.  Miss  Grant,  the  superintendent,  be- 
came her  warm  friend.  Elsie's  absence  from 
home  enabled  her  to  give  a  vivid  picture  of  her 
life  in  her  daily  letters  to  her  father. 

"Glasgow,  Feb.  4,  1891. 
"It  was  not  nice  seeing  you  go  off  and  being  left 
all  alone.  After  I  have  finished  this  letter  I  am 
going  to  set  to  work.  It  seems  there  are  twelve  or 
fourteen  girls  boarding  here,  and  there  are  regu- 
lar rules.  Miss  Grant  told  me  if  I  did  not  like  some 
of  them  to  speak  to  her,  but  I  am  not  going  to  be 
such  a  goose  as  that.  One  rule  is  you  are  to  make 
your  own  bed,  which  she  did  not  think  I  could  dol 
But  I  said  I  could  make  it  beautifully.  I  would 
much  rather  do  what  all  the  others  do.  Well,  I 
arranged  my  room,  and  it  is  as  neat  as  a  new  pin. 
Then  we  walked  up  to  the  hospital,  to  the  dispen- 
sary; we  were  there  till  4.30,  as  there  were  thirty- 
six  patients,  and  thirty-one  of  them  new. 


62  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

"I  am  most  comfortable  here,  and  I  am  going 
to  work  like  anything.  I  told  Miss  Barclay  so, 
and  she  said,  *0h  goodness,  we  shall  all  have  to 
look  out  for  our  laurels  I'  '* 

'Teb.  7,  '91. 

"Mary  Sinclair  says  it  is  no  good  going  to  the 
dispensaries  on  Saturday,  as  there  are  no  students 
there,  and  the  doctors  don't  take  the  trouble  to 
teach.  I  went  to  Dr.  MacEwan's  wards  this  morn- 
ing. I  was  the  first  there,  so  he  let  me  help  him 
with  an  operation;  then  I  went  over  to  Dr.  Ander- 
son's." 

"Feb,  9. 

"This  morning  I  spent  the  whole  time  in  Dr. 
MacEwan's  wards.  He  put  me  through  my  fac- 
ings. I  could  not  think  what  he  meant,  he  asked 
me  so  many  questions.  It  seems  it  is  his  way  of 
greeting  a  new  student.  Some  of  them  cannot  bear 
him,  but  I  think  he  is  really  nice,  though  he  can  be 
abominably  sarcastic,  and  he  is  a  first-rate  surgeon 
and  capital  teacher. 

"To-day,  it  was  the  medical  jurists  and  the  po- 
lice officers  he  was  down  on,  and  he  told  story  after 
story  of  how  they  work  by  red  tape,  according  to 
the  text-books.  He  said  that,  while  he  was  casualty 
surgeon,  one  police  officer  said  to  him  that  it  was 
no  good  having  him  there,  for  he  never  would  try 
to  make  the  medical  evidence  fit  in  with  the  evi- 
dence they  had  collected.  Once  they  brought  in  a 
woman  stabbed  in  her  wrist,  and  said  they  had 
caught  the  man  who  had  done  it  running  away,  and 


THE  STUDENT  DAYS  63 

he  had  a  knife.  Dr.  MacEwan  said  the  cut  had 
been  done  by  glass  and  not  by  a  knife,  so  they  could 
not  convict  the  man,  and  there  was  an  awful  row 
over  It.  Some  of  them  went  down  to  the  alley 
where  it  had  happened,  and  sure  enough  there  was 
a  pane  of  glass  smashed  right  through  the  centre. 
When  the  woman  knew  she  was  found  out,  she  con- 
fessed she  had  done  it  herself.  The  moral  he  Im- 
pressed on  us  was  to  examine  your  patient  before  you 
hear  the  story. 

"A.  is  beginning  to  get  headaches  and  not  sleep  at 
night.  I  am  thankful  to  say  that  is  not  one  of  my 
tricks.  Miss  G.  is  getting  unhappy  about  her,  and 
is  going  to  send  up  beef-tea  every  evening.  She  of- 
fered me  some,  but  I  like  my  glass  of  milk  much 
better.  I  am  taking  my  tonic  and  my  tramp  regu- 
larly, so  I  ought  to  keep  well.  I  am  quite  disgusted 
when  girls  break  down  through  working  too  hard. 
They  must  remember  they  are  not  as  strong  as  men, 
and  then  they  do  Idiotic  things,  such  as  taking  no 
exercise,  into  the  bargain. 

"Dr.  MacEwan  asked  us  to-day  to  get  the  first 
stray  £20,000  we  could  for  him,  as  he  wants  to  build 
a  proper  private  hospital.  So  I  said  he  should  have 
the  second  £20,000  I  came  across,  as  I  wanted  the 
first  to  build  and  endow  a  woman's  College  in  Edin- 
burgh. He  said  he  thought  that  would  be  great 
waste;  there  should  not  be  separate  colleges.  'If 
women  are  going  to  be  doctors,  equal  with  the  men, 
they  should  go  to  the  same  school.'  I  said  I  quite 
agreed  with  him,  but  when  they  won't  admit  you, 


64  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

what  are  you  to  do?  'Leave  them  alone/  he 
said;  'they  will  admit  you  in  time,'  and  he  thought 
outside  colleges  would  only  delay  that. 

"This  morning  in  Dr.  MacEwan's  wards  a  very 
curious  case  came  in.  Some  of  us  tried  to  draw  it, 
never  thinking  he  would  see  us,  and  suddenly  he 
swooped  round  and  insisted  on  seeing  every  one  of 
the  scribbles.  He  has  eyes,  I  believe,  in  the  back 
of  his  head  and  ears  everywhere.  He  forgot,  I 
thought,  to  have  the  ligature  taken  off  a  leg  he  v/as 
operating  on,  and  I  said  so  in  the  lowest  whisper  to 
M.  S.  About  five  minutes  afterwards,  he  calmly 
looked  straight  over  to  us,  and  said,  ^Now,  we'll 
take  off  the  ligature !' 

"I  went  round  this  morning  and  saw  a  few  of  my 
patients.  I  found  one  woman  up  who  ought  to  have 
been  in  bed.  I  discovered  she  had  been  up  all  night 
because  her  husband  came  in  tipsy  about  eleven 
o'clock.  He  was  lying  there  asleep  on  the  bed.  I 
think  he  ought  to  have  been  horse-whipped,  and  when 
I  have  the  vote  I  shall  vote  that  all  m.en  who  turn 
their  wives  and  families  out  of  doors  at  eleven 
o'clock  at  night,  especially  when  the  wife  is  ill,  shall 
be  horse-whipped.  And,  if  they  make  the  excuse 
that  they  were  tipsy,  I  should  give  them  double. 
They  would  very  soon  learn  to  behave  themselves. 

"As  to  the  father  of  the  cherubs  you  ask  about, 
his  family  does  not  seem  to  lie  very  heavily  on  his 
mind.  He  Is  not  in  work  just  now,  and  apparently 
is  very  often  out  of  work.  One  cannot  take  things 
seriously  in  that  house. 


THE  STUDENT  DAYS  65 

"In  the  house  over  the  Clyde  I  saw  the  funniest 
sight.  It  Is  an  Irish  house,  as  dirty  as  a  pig-sty,  and 
there  are  about  ten  children.  When  I  got  there,  at 
least  six  of  the  children  were  In  the  room,  and  half 
of  them  without  a  particle  of  clothing.  They  were 
sitting  about  on  the  table  and  on  the  floor  like  little 
cherubs  with  black  faces.  I  burst  out  laughing  when 
I  saw  them,  and  they  all  joined  In  most  heartily,  in- 
cluding the  mother,  though  not  one  of  them  saw  the 
joke,  for  they  came  and  stood  just  as  they  were 
round  me  in  a  ring  to  see  the  baby  washed.  Sud- 
denly, the  cherubs  began  to  disappear  and  ragged 
children  to  appear  instead.  I  looked  round  to  see 
who  was  dressing  them,  but  there  was  no  one  there. 
They  just  slipped  on  their  little  black  frocks,  with- 
out a  thing  on  underneath,  and  departed  to  the 
street  as  soon  as  the  baby  was  washed. 

*'Three  women  with  broken  legs  have  come  in.  I 
don't  believe  so  many  women  have  ever  broken  their 
legs  together  in  one  day  before !  One  of  them  is 
a  shirt  finisher.  She  sews  on  the  buttons  and  puts 
in  the  gores  at  the  rate  of  4^d.  a  dozen  shirts.  We 
know  the  shop,  and  they  sell  the  shirts  at  4s.  6d. 
each.  Of  course,  political  economy  is  quite  true, 
but  I  hope  that  shop-keeper,  if  ever  he  comes  back 
to  this  earth,  will  be  a  woman  and  have  to  finish 
shirts  at  4j^d.  a  dozen,  and  then  he'll  see  the  other 
side  of  the  question.  I  told  the  woman  it  was  her 
own  fault  for  taking  such  small  wages,  at  which 
she  seemed  amused.  It  is  funny  the  stimulating 
effect  a  big  school  has  on  a  hospital.     The  Royal 


66  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

here  Is  nearly  as  big  and  quite  as  rich  as  the  Edin- 
burgh Royal,  but  there  is  no  pretence  that  they  really 
are  in  their  teaching  and  arrangements  the  third 
hospital  in  the  kingdom,  as  they  are  in  size.  The 
London  Hospital  is  the  biggest,  and  then  comes 
Edinburgh,  and  this  is  the  third.  Guy's  and  Bart.'s, 
that  one  hears  so  much  about,  are  quite  small  in 
comparison,  but  they  have  big  medical  schools  at- 
tached. The  doctors  seem  to  lie  on  their  oars  if 
they  don't  have  to  teach." 

'Teb,  1892. 

*'I  thought  the  Emperor  of  Germany's  speech  the 
most  impertinent  piece  of  self-glorification  I  ever 
met  with.  Steed's  egotism  is  perfect  humility  be- 
side it.  He  and  his  house  are  the  chosen  instru- 
ments of  'our  supreme  Lord,'  and  anybody  who  does 
not  approve  of  what  he  does  had  better  clear  out 
of  Germany.  As  you  say,  Mahomet  and  Luther 
and  all  the  great  epoch-makers  had  a  great  belief 
in  themselves  and  their  mission,  but  the  German 
Emperor  will  have  to  give  some  further  proof  of  his 
divine  commission  (beyond  a  supreme  belief  in  him- 
self) before  I,  for  one,  will  give  In  my  submission. 
I  never  read  such  a  speech.  I  think  it  was  perfectly 
blasphemous. 

"The  Herald  has  an  article  about  wild  women. 
It  evidently  things  St.  Andrews  has  opened  the  flood- 
gates, and  now  there  Is  the  deluge.  St.  Andrews  has 
done  very  well — degrees  and  mixed  classes  from  next 
October.  Don't  you  think  our  Court  might  send  a 
memorial  to  the  University  Court  about  medical 


THE  STUDENT  DAYS  67 

degrees?  It  Is  splendid  having  Sir  William  Mulr 
on  our  side,  and  I  believe  the  bulk  of  the  Senators 
are  all  right — they  only  want  a  little  shove." 

In  Glasgow  the  women  students  had  to  en- 
counter the  opposition  to  ^'mixed  classes,"  and 
the  fight  centred  in  the  Infirmary.  It  would 
have  been  more  honest  to  have  promulgated  the 
decision  of  the  Managers  before  the  women  stu- 
dents had  paid  their  fees  for  the  full  course  of 
medical  tuition. 

Elsie,  in  her  letters,  describes  the  toughly 
fought  contest,  and  the  final  victory  won  by  the 
help  of  the  just  and  enlightened  leaders  in  the 
medical  world.  "So  here  is  another  fight," 
writes  the  student,  with  a  sigh  of  only  a  half 
regret!  It  was  too  good  a  fight,  and  the  back- 
ers were  too  strong  for  the  women  students  not 
to  win  their  undoubted  rights.  Through  all  the 
chaffing  and  laughter,  one  perceives  the  thread 
of  a  resolute  purpose,  and  Elsie's  great  gift,  the 
unconquerable  facing  of  *^the  Hill  Difficulty." 
True,  the  baffled  and  puzzled  enemy  often 
played  into  their  hands,  as  when  Dr.  T.,  driven 
to  extremity  in  a  weak  moment,  threatened  to 
prevent  their  attendance  by  "physical  force." 
The  threat  armed  the  students  with  yet  another 
legal  grievance.  Elsie  describes  on  one  occa- 
sion in  her  haste  going  into  a  ward  where  Dr. 


68  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

Gemmel,  one  of  the  "mixed"  objectors,  was 
demonstrating.  She  perceived  her  mistake,  and 
retreated,  not  before  receiving  a  smile  from  her 
enemy.  The  now  Sir  William  MacEwan  en- 
joyed the  fight  quite  as  much  as  his  women  stu- 
dents; and  if  to-day  he  notes  the  achievements 
of  the  Scottish  Women's  Hospitals,  he  may 
count  as  his  own  some  of  their  success  in  the  pro- 
fession in  which  he  has  achieved  so  worthy  a 
name.  The  dispute  went  on  until  at  length  an 
exhausted  foe  laid  down  its  weapons,  and  the 
redoubtable  Dr.  T.  conveyed  the  intimation  that 
the  women  students  might  go  to  any  of  the  classes 
— and  a  benison  on  them! 

The  faction  fight,  like  many  another  in  the 
brave  days  of  old,  roared  and  clattered  down 
the  paved  causeways  of  Glasgow.  Dr.  T., 
in  his  gatehouse,  must  have  wished  his  petticoat 
foes  many  times  away  and  above  the  pass.  If 
he  or  any  of  the  obstructionists  of  that  day  sur- 
vive, we  know  that  they  belong  to  a  sect  that 
needs  no  repentance.  They  may,  however,  note 
with  self-complacency  that  their  action  trained 
on  a  generation  skilled  in  the  contest  of  fighting 
for  democratic  rights  in  the  realm  of  knowledge. 
It  is  a  birthright  to  enter  into  that  gateway,  and 
the  keys  are  given  to  all  who  possess  the  under- 
standing mind  and  reverent  attitude  towards  all 
truth. 


THE  STUDENT  DAYS  69 

''Nov.  1 89 1. 

"Those  old  wretches,  the  Infirmary  Managers, 
have  reared  their  heads  again,  and  now  have  decided 
that  we  are  not  to  go  to  mixed  classes,  and  we  have 
been  tearing  all  over  the  wards  seeing  all  sorts  of 
people  about  it.  I  went  to  Dr.  K.'s  this  morning — 
all  right.  Crossing  the  quadrangle,  a  porter  rushed 
at  me  and  said,  'Dr.  T.  wants  to  see  all  the  lady 
students  at  the  gate-house.*  I  remarked  to  Miss 
M.,  *I  am  certainly  not  going  to  trot  after  Dr.  T. 
for  casual  messages  like  that.  He  can  put  up  a 
notice  if  he  wants  me.'  We  were  going  upstairs 
to  Dr.  R.  when  another  porter  ran  up  and  said, 
'Dr.  T.  is  in  his  office.  He  would  be  much  obliged 
if  you  would  speak  to  him.'  So  we  laughed,  and 
said  that  was  more  polite  anyhow,  and  went  into  the 
office.  So  he  hummed  and  hawed,  looked  every- 
where except  at  us,  and  then  said  the  Infirmary 
Managers  said  we  were  not  to  go  to  mixed  classes. 
So  I  promptly  said,  'Then  I  shall  come  for  my  fees 
to-morrow,'  and  walked  out  of  the  room.  I  was 
angry.  I  went  straight  back  to  Dr.  K.,  who  said  he 
was  awfully  sorry  and  angry,  and  he  would  see  Dr. 
T.,  but  he  was  afraid  he  could  do  nothing. 

"So  here  is  another  fight.  But  you  see  we  can- 
not be  beat  here,  for  the  same  reason  that  we 
cannot  beat  them  in  Edinburgh.  Were  the  managers, 
managers  a  hundred  times  over,  they  cannot  turn 
Mr.  MacEwan  off. 

"The  Glasgow  Herald  had  an  article  the  other 
day,  saying  there  was  a  radical  change  In  the  coun- 


70  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

try,  and  that  no  one  was  taking  any  notice  of  it,  and 
no  one  knew  where  It  was  to  land  us.  This  was  the 
draft  ordinance  of  the  Commissioners  which  actually 
put  the  education  of  women  on  the  same  footing  as 
that  of  men,  and,  worse  still,  seemed  to  countenance 
mixed  classes.  The  G.  H.  seems  to  think  this  is  the 
beginning  of  the  end,  and  will  necessarily  lead  to 
woman's  suffrage,  and  It  will  probably  land  them  in 
the  pulpit;  because  if  they  are  ordinary  University 
students  they  may  compete  for  any  of  the  bursaries, 
and  many  bursaries  can  only  be  held  on  condition 
that  the  holder  means  to  enter  the  Church!  You 
never  read  such  an  article,  and  it  was  not  the  least 
a  joke  but  sober  earnest. 

"I  saw  Dr.  P.  about  my  surgery.  The  chief  rea- 
son I  tried  to  get  that  prize  was  to  pay  for  those 
things  and  not  worry  you  about  them.  I  want  to 
pass  awfully  well,  as  it  tells  all  one's  life  through, 
and  I  mean  to  be  very  successful ! 

"Dr.  B.  has  the  most  absurd  way  of  agreeing  with 
everything  you  say.  He  asked  me  what  I  would 
do  with  a  finger.  I  thought  it  was  past  all  mending 
and  said,  'Amputate  it.'  'Quite  so,  quite  so,*  he 
said  solemnly,  'but  we'll  dress  it  to-day  with  such 
and  such  a  thing.'  There  were  two  or  three  other 
cases  in  which  I  recommended  desperate  measures, 
in  which  he  agreed,  but  did  not  follow.  Finally,  he 
asked  Mr.  B.  what  he  would  do  with  a  swelling. 
Mr.  B.  hesitated.  I  said,  'Open  it'  Whereupon 
he  went  off  into  fits  of  laughter,  and  proclaimed  to 
the  whole  room  my  prescriptions,  and  said  I  would 


THE  STUDENT  DAYS  71 

make  a  first-rate  surgeon  for  I  was  afraid  of  nothing. 

"It  is  one  thing  to  recommend  treatment  to  an- 
other person  and  another  to  do  it  yourself. 

*'Queen  Margaret  is  to  be  taken  into  the  Uni- 
versity, not  affiliated,  but  made  an  integral  part  of 
the  University  and  the  lecturers  appointed  again  by 
the  Senators.  That  means  that  the  Glasgow  de- 
grees in  everything  are  to  be  given  from  October, 
Arts,  Medicine,  Science,  and  Theology.  The  *de- 
crees  of  the  primordial  protoplasm,'  that  Sir  James 
Crichton-Browne  knows  all  about,  are  being  re- 
versed right  and  left,  and  not  only  by  the  Senatus 
Academicus  of  St.  Andrews  I'* 

The  remaining  letters  are  filled  w^ith  all  the 
hopes  and  fears  of  the  examined.  Mr.  Mac- 
Ewan  tells  her  she  will  pass  "with  one  hand," 
and  Elsie  has  the  usual  moan  over  a  defective 
memory,  and  the  certainties  that  she  will  be 
asked  all  the  questions  to  which  she  has  no 
answering  key.  The  evidences  of  hard  and  con- 
scientious study  abound,  and,  after  she  had 
counted  the  days  and  rejoined  her  father,  she 
found  she  had  passed  through  the  heavy  ordeal 
with  great  success,  and,  having  thus  qualified, 
could  pass  on  to  yet  unconquered  realms  of  ex- 
perience and  service. 


CHAPTER  V 

LONDON 
THE  NEW  HOSPITAL  FOR  WOMEN 

DUBLIN 
THE  ROTUNDA 

1 892- 1 894 

"We  take  up  the  task  eternal  and  the  burden  and  the 
lesson,  Pioneers,  O  Pioneers." — Walt  Whitman. 

After  completing  her  clinical  work  in  Glas- 
gow, and  passing  the  examination  for  the  Triple 
Qualification  in  1892,  it  was  decided  that  Elsie 
should  go  to  London  and  work  as  house-surgeon 
in  the  new  Hospital  for  Women  in  the  Euston 
Road.  In  1916  that  hospital  kept  its  jubilee 
year,  and  when  Elsie  went  to  work  there  it  had 
been  established  for  nearly  thirty  years.  Its 
story  contains  the  record  of  the  leading  names 
among  women  doctors.  In  the  commemorative 
prayer  of  Bishop  Paget,  an  especial  thanksgiv- 
ing was  made  "for  the  good  example  of  those 
now  at  rest,  Elizabeth  Blackwell,  and  Sophie 
Jex  Blake,  of  good  work  done  by  women  doctors 
throughout  the  whole  world,  and  now  especially 

72 


\  LONDON  73 

of  the  high  trust  and  great  responsibility  com- 
mitted to  women  doctors  in  this  hour  of  need." 
The  hearts  of  many  present  went  over  the  wash- 
ing seas,  to  the  lands  wasted  by  fire  and  sword, 
and  to  the  leader  of  the  Scottish  Women's  Hos- 
pitals, who  had  gained  her  earliest  surgical 
experience  in  the  wards  of  the  first  hospital 
founded  by  the  first  woman  doctor,  and  stand- 
ing for  the  new  principle  that  women  can  prac- 
tise the  healing  art. 

Elsie  Inglis  took  up  her  work  with  keen 
energy  and  a  happy  power  of  combining  work 
with  varied  interests.  In  the  active  months  of 
her  residence  she  resolutely  '^tramped"  London, 
attended  most  of  the  outstanding  churches,  and 
was  a  great  sermon  taster  of  ministers  ranging 
from  Boyd  Carpenter  to  Father  Maturin.  In- 
numerable relatives  and  friends  tempted  her  to 
lawn  tennis  and  the  theatres.  She  had  a  keen 
eye  to  all  the  humours  of  the  staff,  and  formed 
her  own  opinions  on  patients  and  doctors  with 
her  usual  independence  of  judgment. 

Elsie's  letters  to  her  father  were  detailed  and 
written  daily.  Only  a  very  small  selection  can 
be  quoted,  but  every  one  of  them  is  instinct  with 
a  buoyant  outlook,  and  they  are  full  of  the  joy 
of  service. 

It  is  interesting  to  read  in  these  letters  her 
descriptions  of  the  work  of  Dr.  Garrett  Ander- 


74j  dr.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

son,  and  then  to  read  Dr.  Louisa  Garrett  Ander- 
son's speech  on  her  mother  at  the  jubilee  of  the 
hospital.  "I  shall  never  forget  her  at  Victoria 
Station  on  the  day  when  the  Women's  Hospital 
Corps  was  leaving  England  for  France,  early 
in  September  1914.  She  was  quite  an  old 
woman,  her  life's  work  done,  but  the  light  of 
battle  was  in  her  eyes,  and  she  said,  'Had  I  been 
twenty  years  younger  I  would  have  been  taking 
you  myself.'  "  Just  twenty-one  years  before  the 
war  broke  down  the  last  of  the  barriers  against 
women's  work  as  doctors,  Elsie  Inglis  entered 
the  New  Hospital  for  Women,  to  learn  with 
that  staff  of  women  doctors  who  had  achieved 
so  much  under  conditions  so  full  of  difHculties 
and  discouragements. 

"New  Hospital  for  Women, 
"EusTON  Rd.,  1892-3. 

"My  own  dearest  Papa, — Here  we  begin  an- 
other long  series  of  letters.  The  people  in  the  car- 
riage were  very  quiet,  so  I  slept  all  right.  Of  course 
they  shut  up  all  the  windows,  so  I  opened  all  the 
ventilators,  and  I  also  opened  the  window  two  or 
three  times.  I  had  breakfast  at  once,  and  then  a 
bath,  and  then  came  in  for  a  big  operation  by  Mrs. 
Boyd.  Her  husband  came  up  to  help  her.  Mrs. 
Scharlieb  and  Mrs.  de  la  Cherois  were  up  too — ^both 
of  them  visiting  doctors.  I  have  been  all  round  the 
wards  and  got  a  sort  of  idea  of  the  cases  in  my 
head,  but  I  shall  have  to  get  them  all  up  properly. 


LONDON  76 

The  visiting  physicians  seem  to  call  all  over  the 
day,  from  nine  o'clock  In  the  morning  till  three  In 
the  afternoon.  Some  of  the  students  from  the 
School  of  Medicine  are  dressers  and  clerks.  I  be- 
lieve I  have  to  drill  them,  but  of  course  they  are  only 
very  senior  students,  because  their  real  hospital  is 
the  Royal  Free.  There  are  four  wards,  two  of 
them  round,  with  two  fireplaces  back  to  back  in  the 
middle.  The  other  two  wards  are  oblong,  and  they 
are  all  prettily  painted,  and  bright.  Then  there  are 
two  small  wards  for  serious  cases.  I  have  not  ar- 
ranged my  room  yet,  as  I  have  not  had  a  minute. 
I  am  going  out  to  post  this  and  get  a  stethoscope. 
Mrs.  de  la  Cherois  has  been  here;  she  is  a  nice  old 
lady,  and  awfully  particular.  I  would  much  rather 
work  with  people  like  that  than  people  who  are 
anyhow.  Mrs.  Scharlieb  is  about  forty,  very  dark 
and  solemn.  The  nurses  seem  nice,  but  they  don't 
have  any  special  uniform,  which  I  think  Is  a  pity; 
so  they  are  pinks  and  greys  and  blues,  and  twenty 
different  patterns  of  caps.  I  think  I  shall  like  being 
here  very  much.  I  only  hope  I  shall  get  on  with  all 
my  mistresses !  And,  I  hope  I  shall  always  remem- 
ber what  to  do. 

"The  last  big  operation  case  died.  It  was  very 
sad,  and  very  provoking,  for  she  really  was  doing 
well,  but  she  had  not  vitality  enough  to  stand  the 
shock.  That  was  the  case  whose  doctor  told  her 
and  her  husband  that  she  was  suffering  from 
hysteria.  And  that  man,  you  know,  can  be  a  fellow 
of  the  colleges,  and  member  of  any  society  he  likes 


76  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

to  apply  to,  while  Mrs.  G.  Anderson  and  Mrs. 
Scharlieb  cannot!     Is  it  not  ridiculous? 

"Mrs.  G.  Anderson  said  she  was  going  to  speak 
to  Mrs.  M'Call  about  my  having  one  of  her  mater- 
nity posts.  I  shall  come  home  first,  however,  my 
own  dearest  Papa.  Mrs.  G.  A.  said  she  thought 
I  should  have  a  good  deal  more  of  that  kind  of 
work  if  I  was  going  to  set  up  in  a  lonely  place  like 
Edinburgh,  as  I  ought  never  to  have  to  call  In  a 
man  to  help  me  out  of  a  hole ! 

"Mrs.  G.  Anderson  is  going  to  take  me  to  a 
Cinderella  dance  to-night  in  aid  of  the  hospital. 
I  am  to  meet  her  at  St.  James'  Hall.  We  had  an 
awful  morning  of  it.  Mrs.  G.  A.  is  taking  Mrs. 
M.'s  ward,  and  turned  up  9.30,  Mrs.  S.'s  hour. 
Then  Miss  C.  came  in  on  the  top  to  consult  about 
two  of  her  cases.  Into  the  bargain,  A.  slept  late,  and 
did  not  arrive  till  near  ten,  so,  by  the  time  they  had 
all  left,  I  had  a  lovely  medley  of  treatment  In  my 
head.  My  fan  has  arrived,  and  will  come  in  for 
to-night.  I  hope  Mrs.  G.  Anderson  will  be  a  nice 
chaperone  and  introduce  one  properly.  I  am  to  go 
early,  and  her  son  is  to  look  out  for  me,  and  begin 
the  introducing  till  she  comes.  Miss  Garrett  has 
been  to-day  painting  the  hall  for  the  Chicago  Exhi- 
bition. She  Is  going  to  the  dance  to-night.  She 
says  Mrs.  Fawcett  got  some  more  money  out  of  the 
English  Commissioners  In  a  lovely  way.  These 
Commissioners  have  spent  £17,000  In  building 
themselves  a  kiosk  In  the  ground,  and  they  allowed 
Mrs.  Fawcett  £500  to  represent  women's  work  in 


LONDON  71 

England.  Every  one  is  furious  about  it.  Well, 
Mrs.  Fawcett  has  managed  to  get  an  extra  £500. 
She  wrote,  and  said  that  if  she  did  not  get  any  more 
she  could  not  mount  all  the  photographs  and  draw- 
ings, but  would  put  up  a  notice  that  'the  English 
Commission  was  too  poor  to  allow  for  mounting 
and  framing.'     This,  with  the  kiosk  in  the  ground  I 

"One  of  the  patients  here  was  once  upon  a  time 
a  servant  at  the  Baroness  Burdett  Coutts'.  She 
certainly  was  most  awfully  kind  to  her,  sent  her  £10 
to  pay  her  rent,  and  has  now  paid  to  send  her  to 
the  Cottage.  Miss  B.  is  in  hopes  she  may  get  her 
interested  in  the  hospital  now,  but  it  seems  she  does 
not  approve  of  women  doctors  and  such  things. 
Perhaps,  as  the  old  housemaid  did  so  well  here,  she 
may  change  her  mind.  The  Report  is  out  now.  I 
shall  send  them  to  some  of  the  doctors  in  Edin- 
burgh. I  see  in  it  that  Mr.  Robertson  left  £1000 
in  memory  of  his  wife  to  the  hospital,  and  that  is 
how  that  bed  comes  to  be  called  the  'Caroline  Croom 
Robertson  bed.' 

"We  had  two  big  operations  to-day.  We  had  the 
usual  round  in  the  morning,  and  then  we  had  to 
prepare.  I  did  one  lovely  thing!  This  morning, 
I  pointed  out  to  Mrs.  Scharlieb  with  indignation 
that  our  galvanic  battery  had  run  out.  I  said  that 
it  really  was  disgraceful  of  C,  for  it  had  only  been 
used  once  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  since  the  last 
time  he  had  charged  it.  Mrs.  S.  agreed,  and  said 
she  would  go  in  and  speak  to  him  and  tell  him  to 
send  her  battery,  which  was  with  him  being  charged. 


78  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

We  wanted  a  battery  for  the  galvanic  cautery.  Well, 
Mrs.  Scharlieb's  battery  arrived.  I  tried  it,  and 
found  it  would  not  heat  the  cautery  properly.  So 
I  was  very  angry,  and  I  sat  down  and  wrote  C.  a 
peppery  letter.  I  told  him  to  send  some  competent 
person  at  once  to  look  at  the  battery,  and  to  be  pre- 
pared to  lend  us  one,  if  this  competent  person  saw 
it  was  necessary.  M.  flew  off,  and  in  twenty  minutes 
a  man  from  C.  arrived,  very  humble.  I  turned  on 
the  batteries,  and  showed  him  that  they  would  not 
heat  up  properly.  Sister  said  I  talked  to  him  like 
a  mother.  He  departed  very  humbly  to  bring  an- 
other battery.  In  about  half  an  hour  Sister  whistled 
up,  C.'s  man  would  like  to  see  me.  Down  I  went. 
He  looked  at  me  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye.  *You 
had  not  taken  the  resistance  off,  Miss,'  and  held  one 
of  the  cautery  red-hot  attached  to  our  own  battery. 
Was  not  I  sold  1  I  had  humbly  to  apologise.  And 
the  amount  of  nervous  energy  I  had  wasted  on  that 
battery! 

'*We  began  to-day  with  a  big  operation.  It  went 
perfectly  splendidly.  The  chloroform  was  given  by 
a  Dr.  B.,  some  special  friend  of  the  patient,  so  I 
hoped  there  would  be  no  hitch,  and  there  was  none. 
He  had  the  cheek  afterwards  to  say  to  Dr.  S.,  that 
no  one  could  have  done  it  better!  Mrs.  S.  seemed 
rather  pleased,  but  I  thought  it  awfully  patronising, 
was  it  not? 

"Did  I  tell  you  that  Mrs.  S.  and  Miss  Walker 
were  talking  the  other  morning  of  the  time  when 
they  would  make  this  a  qualifying  hospital?     Miss 


LONDON  79 

C.  said  It  would  certainly  come  some  day,  and  of 
course,  to  make  it  a  qualifying  hospital,  they  must 
have  men's  beds,  and  that  will  mean  a  mixed  staff. 
However,  all  that  is  in  the  future.  Then,  we  will 
show  the  old-fashioned  hospitals,  with  their  retro- 
grade managers,  etc.,  how  a  mixed  staff  can  work. 
I  wonder  if  they  will  have  mixed  classes  too ! 

*'I  enjoyed  King  Lear  very  much.  The  scenery 
was  magnificent.  King  Lear  was  not  a  bit  kingly, 
but  just  a  weak,  old  man.  I  suppose  that  was  what 
he  was  meant  to  be.  Ellen  Terry  was  splendid. 
The  storm  on  the  heath  awful.  I  shivered  in  my 
seat  when  the  wind  whistled.  The  last  scene — the 
French  camp  on  the  cliffs  on  Dover — was  really 
beautiful. 

"Yesterday,  I  did  a  lovely  thing — slept  like  a  top 
till  almost  nine.  I  suppose  I  was  tired  after  the 
exciting  cases.  Janet  burst  Into  my  room  with  'Mrs. 
S.  will  be  here  in  a  very  few  minutes,  Miss.'  So, 
out  I  tumbled,  and  tore  downstairs  to  meet  Mrs.  S. 
in  the  hall !  I  tried  to  look  as  If  I  had  had  breakfast 
hours  before,  and  I  don't  think  she  suspected  that 
was  my  first  appearance.  She  did  her  visit,  and 
then  I  went  to  breakfast.  As  luck  would  have  It, 
Mrs.  G.  Anderson  chose  that  morning  of  all  others 
to  show  a  friend  of  hers  round  the  hospital.  She 
marched  calmly  Into  the  board-room  to  find  me 
grubbing.  I  saw  the  only  thing  to  do  was  to  be 
quite  cool,  so  I  got  up  and  shook  hands,  and  re- 
marked, T  am  rather  late  this  morning,'  and  she  only 


80  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

laughed.  It  was  about  10.30,  a  nice  time  for  an 
H.S.  to  be  having  breakfast. 

*'I  did  not  go  to  hear  Father  Maturin  after  all 
yesterday.  I  have  been  very  busy;  we  have  had 
another  big  operation,  doing  all  right  so  far.  She 
is  an  artist's  wife;  she  has  had  an  unhappy  time  for 
four  years,  because  she  has  been  very  ill,  and  their 
doctor  said  it  was  hysteria,  and  told  her  husband 
not  to  give  in  to  the  nonsense.  Really,  some  of 
these  general  practitioners  are  grand.  They  send 
some  of  the  patients  in  with  the  most  outrageous 
diagnoses  you  can  imagine.  One  woman  was  told 
her  life  was  not  worth  a  year's  purchase,  and  she 
must  have  a  big  operation.  So  she  came  in.  We 
pummelled  her  all  over,  and  could  not  find  the 
grounds  of  his  diagnosis,  and  finally  treated  for 
something  quite  different,  and  she  went  out  well  in 
six  weeks.  Her  doctor  came  to  see  her,  and  said, 
'Well,  madam,  I  could  not  have  believed  it.'  It  is 
better  they  should  err  in  that  direction  than  in  the 
direction  of  calling  real  illness  'hysteria.' 

"I  mean  to  have  a  hospital  of  my  own  In  Edin- 
burgh some  day. 

"A  patient  with  a  well-balanced  nervous  system 
will  get  well  in  just  half  the  time  that  one  of  these 
hysterical  women  will.  There  is  one  plucky  little 
woman  in  just  now.  She  has  had  a  bad  operation, 
but  nothing  has  ever  disturbed  her  equilibrium. 
She  smiles  away  in  the  pluckiest  way,  and  gets  well 
more  quickly  than  anybody.  I  agree  with  Kingsley: 
one  of  the  necessities  of  the  world  is  to  teach  girls 


LONDON  81 

to  be  brave,  and  not  whine  over  everything,  and 
the  first  step  for  that  is  to  teach  them  to  play 
games ! 

"Fancy  who  has  been  here  this  evening — Bailie 
Walcot.  He  has  come  up  to  London  on  Parlia- 
mentary business.  He  investigated  every  hole  and 
corner  of  the  hospital.  He  says  our  girls  are  going 
to  Dr.  Littlejohn's  class  with  Jex's  girls  at  Surgery 
Hall.  It  is  wonderful  how  these  men  w^ho  would 
do  nothing  at  first  are  beginning  to  see  it  pays  to  be 
neutral  now. 

We  have  a  lot  to  be  grateful  to  J.  B.  for;  Bailie 
W.  told  me  the  Leith  managers  have  approached 
the  Edinburgh  managers,  saying,  'If  you  will  under- 
take no  more  women  students,  we  will  undertake  to 
take  both  schools,  and  to  build  immediately.'  Bailie 
Walcot  said  he  and  Mr.  Scott  of  St.  George's  were 
the  only  two  who  opposed  this.  If  they  send  us 
down  to  Leith  we  must  make  the  best  of  it,  and  really 
try  to  make  it  a  good  school,  but  it  will  be  a  great 
pity. 

^'The  dance  was  awfully  nice.  Mrs.  G.  Ander- 
son is  a  capital  chaperone.  I  managed  to  go  off 
without  my  ticket,  and  the  damsel  at  the  door  was 
very  severe,  and  said  I  must  wait  till  Mrs.  Garrett 
Anderson  came.  I  waited  quietly  a  minute  or  two, 
and  was  just  going  to  ask  her  to  send  in  to  see  if 
Mrs.  Anderson  had  come,  then  a  man  marched  in, 
and  said  in  a  lovely  manner,  'I  have  forgotten  my 
ticket,'  and  she  merely  said,  'You  must  give  me  your 
name,  sir,'   and  let  him  pass.     After  that  I  gave 


82  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

my  name  and  passed  tool  I  found  I  might  have 
waited  till  doomsday,  for  Mrs.  G.  A.  was  inside. 
I  danced  every  dance;  it  was  a  lovely  floor  and 
lovely  music,  and  you  may  make  up  your  mind,  papa 
dear,  that  I  go  to  all  the  balls  in  Edinburgh  after 
this.  They  had  two  odd  dances  called  Barn-door. 
I  thought  it  would  be  a  kind  of  Sir  Roger,  but  it  was 
the  oddest  kind  of  hop,  skip  and  dance  I  ever  saw. 
I  said  to  Mrs.  G.  A.  it  was  something  like  a  Schot- 
tische,  only  not  a  quarter  so  pretty.  She  said  it 
was  pretty  when  nicely  danced,  but  people  have  not 
learnt  it  yet.  I  rashly  said  to  Mrs.  G.  A.  that  I 
could  get  some  tea  from  the  night  nurse  when  I  got 
home  (because  I  wanted  to  dance  the  extras),  but 
she  was  horrified  at  tea  just  before  going  to  sleep, 
and  swept  me  into  the  refreshment-room  and  made 
me  drink  soup  by  the  gallon.  I  came  home  with 
Miss  Garrett.  We  had  an  operation  this  morning, 
so  you  see  dances  don't  interfere  with  the  serious 
business  of  life. 

"Mrs.  Scharlieb  came  in  here  the  other  day,  and 
declared  I  was  qualifying  for  acute  bronchitis;  but 
I  told  her  nobody  could  have  acute  bronchitis  who 
had  a  cold  bath  every  morning,  and  had  been  brought 
up  to  open  windows.  This  is  the  third  sit  down  to 
your  letter.  Talk  of  women  at  home  never  being 
able  to  do  anything  without  being  interrupted  every 
few  minutes!  I  think  you  have  only  to  be  house 
surgeon  to  know  what  being  interrupted  means. 
They  not  only  knock  and  march  in  at  the  door,  but 
they   also    whistle    up    the    tube — most    frightfully 


LONDON  83 

startling  It  used  to  be  at  first,  to  hear  a  sort  of  shrill 
fog-horn  in  the  room.  There  are  three  high  tem- 
peratures, and  the  results  are  sent  up  to  me  when- 
ever they  are  taken.  We  are  sponging  them,  and 
may  have  to  put  them  into  cold  baths,  but  I  hope 
not.  Mrs.  G.  A.  told  me  to  do  it  without  waiting 
for  the  chief,  If  I  thought  it  necessary,  whereupon 
Mrs.  B.  remarked,  T  think  Miss  Inglis  ought  to 
be  warned  the  patient  may  die.' 

"Lovely  weather  here.  I  have  been  prescribing 
sunshine,  sunshine,  sunshine  for  all  the  patients. 
There  are  only  two  balconies  on  each  floor,  and 
nurse  Rose  is  reported  to  have  said  that  she  sup- 
posed I  wanted  the  patients  hung  out  over  the  rail- 
ings, for  otherwise  there  would  not  be  room.  Miss 
W.  came  this  morning,  to  Sister's  indignation. 
*Does  not  she  think  she  can  trust  me  for  one  day?' 
So  I  said  it  was  only  that  she  was  so  delighted  at 
having  a  ward;  and  that  I  was  sure  I  would  do  the 
same.  *0h,'  said  Sister,  T  am  thankful  you  have 
not  a  ward.  You  would  bring  a  box  with  sandwiches 
and  sit  there  all  day.'  I  am  always  having  former 
H.S.'s  thrown  at  my  head  who  came  round  exactly 
to  the  minute,  twice  a  day,  whereas  they  say  I  am 
never  out  of  the  wards,  at  least  they  never  know 
when  I  am  coming.  I  tell  them  I  don't  want  them 
to  trot  round  after  me  with  an  ink-bottle.  Miss  R. 
says  I  have  no  idea  of  discipline !  I  make  one  grand 
round  a  day,  with  the  ink-bottle,  and  then  I  don't 
want  the  nurses  to  take  any  more  notice  of  me.  I 
think  that  is  far  more  sensible  than  having  fixed 


84  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

times.  I  quite  agree  the  ink-bottle  round  ought  to 
be  at  a  fixed  time,  but  I  cannot  help  other  things 
turning  up  to  be  done. 

'^I  had  to  toddle  off  and  ask  for  Mrs.  K.  She  is 
the  one  who  is  appointed  to  give  anaesthetics  in  the 
hospital.  They  are  all  most  frightfully  nervous 
about  anaesthetics  here,  in  all  the  hospitals,  and  have 
regular  anaesthetists.  In  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow 
the  students  give  it,  under  the  house  surgeons  of 
course.  I  never  saw  any  death,  or  anything  that 
was  very  frightening.  One  real  reason  is,  I  believe, 
that  they  watch  the  wrong  organ,  viz.  the  heart.  In 
Scotland  they  hardly  think  of  the  heart,  and  simply 
watch  the  breathing.  The  Hyderabad  Commission 
settled  conclusively  that  it  was  the  breathing  gave 
out  first;  but  having  made  up  their  minds  that  it 
does  not,  all  the  Commissions  in  the  world  won't 
convince  them  to  the  contrary.  In  the  meantime 
they  do  their  operations  in  fear  and  trembling,  con- 
tinually asking  If  the  patient  is  all  right. 

"You  never  saw  such  a  splendid  out-patient  de- 
partment as  they  have  here — a  perfectly  lovely, 
comfortable  waiting-room,  and  pretty  receiving 
waiting-room.  The  patients  have  to  pay  a  small 
sum,  yet  they  had  over  20,000  visits  this  year  up  to 
November — that  is  about  half  the  size  of  the  Glas- 
gow Royal,  one  of  the  biggest  out-patients  in  the 
kingdom,  and  general.  This  is  paying,  and  for 
women !     Who  says  women  doctors  are  not  wanted ! 

"This  morning  I  started  off,  meaning  to  go  to 
Dr.  Vaughan  in  the  Temple  Church.    Sister  C.  told 


LONDON  85 

me  I  ought  to  be  early,  and  of  course  I  was  as  late 
as  I  could  be.  As  I  was  running  downstairs  Nurse 
Helen  asked  me  if  I  had  ever  heard  Stopford 
Brooke.  I  had  heard  his  name,  but  I  could  not 
remember  anything  about  him.  Nurse  H.  said  he 
was  an  awful  heretic,  and  had  got  into  trouble  for 
his  opinions.  As  a  general  rule  men  who  get  into 
trouble  for  their  opinions  are  worth  listening  to — 
at  least  they  have  opinions.  So  I  left  Dr.  Vaughan, 
and  went  off  to  Mr.  S.  Brooke.  He  gave  a  capital 
sermon  with  nothing  heterodox  in  it,  about  loving 
our  fellow-men.  I  liked  him,  and  would  go  to- 
night to  hear  his  lecture  on  'In  Memoriam,'  but 
Sister  C.  Is  going  out. 

"You  know  you  must  not  aim  at  a  separate  but  at 
a  mixed  school  in  Edinburgh.  I  am  sure  this  Is 
best,  and  all  the  women  here  think  so  too.  I  wonder 
when  the  University  means  to  succumb. 

"Mrs.  G.  Anderson  asked  me  to  come  and  help 
her  with  a  small  operation  in  an  hotel.  She  gave 
me  a  half-guinea  fee  for  so  doing.  We  drove  there 
in  a  hansom,  and  drove  back  in  her  carriage.  She 
was  most  jovial  and  talkative.  We  went  into  the 
Deanery.  Westminster  Abbey,  on  our  way  back  to 
leave  cards  on  somebody.  You  suddenly  seem  to 
get  out  of  the  noise  and  rush  of  London  when  you 
turn  in  there.  It  is  quite  quiet  and  green.  All 
sorts  of  men  were  wandering  about  in  red  gowns  and 
black  gowns.     We  were  told  it  was  Convocation. 

"Mrs.  Scharlieb  was  awfully  nice  and  kind.  She 
said  she  hoped  I  would  get  on  always  as  well  as  I 


86  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

had  here.  Was  not  it  nice  of  her?  I  said  I  hoped 
I  would  do  much  better,  for  I  thought  I  had  made  an 
awful  lot  of  mistakes  since  I  came  here.  She  says 
everybody  has  to  make  mistakes.  The  worst  of 
being  a  doctor  is  that  one's  mistakes  matter  so 
much.  In  everything  else  you  just  throw  away 
what  you  have  messed  and  begin  again,  but  you  can- 
not do  that  as  a  doctor. 

*'She  said  she  expects  to  be  called  is  as  my  con- 
sultant when  I  am  a  surgeon.  Won't  my  patients 
have  to  pay  fees  to  get  her  up  from  London  1 

^'Miss  C.  has  been  trying  to  get  on  to  some  of  the 
medical  societies,  and  has  failed.  I  shall  not  de- 
mean myself  by  asking  to  get  on — shall  wait  till 
they  beseech  the  honour  of  adding  my  name. 

*'As  to  women  doctors  here  having  an  assured 
position,  I  rather  like  the  pioneer  work,  I  think! 
I  mean  to  make  friends  with  all  the  nice  doctors, 
and  vanquish  all  the  horrid  selfish  ones,  and  end  by 
being  a   Missionary  Professor. 

"If  I  don't  get  into  the  Infirmary  in  Edinburgh, 
I  mean  to  build  a  hospital  for  myself,  like  this  one. 
Indeed  I  don't  know  that  I  should  not  like  the  hos- 
pital to  myself  better !  I'll  build  it  where  the  Cattle 
Market  is,  at  the  head  of  Lady  Lawson  Street. 
That  would  be  convenient  for  all  the  women  in 
Fountainbridge,  and  the  Grassmarket  and  Cowgate, 
and  it  would  be  comparatively  high.  To  begin  with, 
I  mean  to  rent  Eva's  hall  from  her  for  a  dispensary. 
You  see  it  is  all  arranged!" 

The  next  course  Elsie  decided  on  taking  was 


LONDON  87 

one  of  three  months  in  Midwifery  in  the  Rotun- 
da, Dublin.  There  was  a  greater  equality  of 
teaching  there  in  mixed  classes,  and  also  she 
thought  the  position  of  the  whole  hospital  staff 
was  on  lines  which  would  enable  her  to  gain  the 
most  experience  in  this  branch,  where  she  ul- 
timately achieved  so  much  for  her  fellow- 
citizens  in  Edinburgh. 

"Costigan's  Hotel,  Upper  Sackville  St., 
"Dublin,  Nov.  i8,  1893. 

"I  went  over  to  the  Rotunda  and  saw  Dr.  Glennj 
the  assistant  master.  I  am  'clerk'  on  Mondays  and 
Thursdays.  The  only  other  person  here  is  a  native 
from  the  Nizam's  Dominions.  At  breakfast  this 
morning  he  told  me  about  his  children,  who  are  quite 
fair  'like  their  mother.'  How  fond  he  was  of  Lon- 
don, and  how  he  would  not  live  in  India  now  for 
anything;  he  finds  the  climate  enervating!  I  told 
him  I  thought  India  a  first-rate  place  to  live  in, 
and  that  I  should  like  to  go  back. 

"By  the  way,  fancy  the  franchise  for  the  Parish 
Councils  being  carried.  The  first  thing  I  saw  when 
I  landed  was  defeat  of  the  Government !  The  Inde^ 
pendent  here  is  jubilant,  partly  because  the  point  of 
woman's  suffrage  is  carried,  partly  because  the 
Government  Is  beaten. 

"So  the  strike  has  ended,  and  the  men  go  back  to 
work  on  their  old  wages  till  February.  I  expect 
both  sides  are  sick  of  it,  but  I  am  glad  the  men 


88  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

have  carried  it  so  far.  Lord  Rosebery  is  a  clever 
man. 

*'Mrs.  C.  evidently  thinks  I  am  quite  mad,  for  I 
have  asked  for  a  cold  bath  in  my  room.  'Good 
gracious  me,  miss!  it's  not  cold  entoirely  ye'll  be 
meaning.' 

"I  went  to  see  the  D.'s.  The  first  thing  I  was 
told  was  that  a  Miss  D.  sat  in  their  church,  an  M.B. 
of  the  Royal  Infirmary.  A  very  clever  girl,  she 
has  just  taken  a  travelling  bursary  and  is  going  to 
Vienna.  'But  we  don't  know  her,  they  are  Home 
Rulers!'  Mrs.  D.  went  on  to  say  both  she  and  her 
father  were  Home  Rulers,  but  that  she  for  one 
would  not  mind  if  they  did  not  obtrude  their  politics. 
So,  I  thought,  'Well,  I  won't  obtrude  mine.'  Then 
Mrs.  D.  said,  'You  must  take  a  side,  you  know,  and 
say  distinctly  what  side  you  are  on  when  you  are 
asked.'  So  I  thought,  'Well,  I'll  wait  till  I  am 
asked,'  and  I  have  got  through  to-day  without  being 
asked.  But,  positively,  they  used  the  word  'boy- 
cott' about  those  D.'s.  They  have  been  boycotted 
by  the  congregation.  It  must  be  rather  hard  to  be 
a  Home  Ruler  and  a  Presbyterian  just  now  in  Ire- 
land. Positively,  they  frightened  me  so,  I  nearly 
squirmed  under  the  table.  However,  when  I  looked 
round  the  congregation  I  thought  I  should  not  mind 
much  being  boycotted  by  them.  The  sermon  was 
one  about  forgiving  your  enemies.  Mrs.  D.  has 
given  me  a  standing  invitation  to  come  to  dinner  on 
Sunday.  What  will  happen  when  I  am  suddenly 
asked  to  take  my  side,  I  don't  know.     In  the  mean- 


LONDON  89 

time  I  will  let  things  slide !  Mrs.  D.  asked  me  if 
the  Costigans  were  Catholics,  and  said  she  thought 
Mrs.  C.  looked  so  nice  she  could  not  be  one. 

"I  have  done  nothing  but  race  after  cases  to-day. 
One  old  woman  was  killing.  She  came  for  Dr.  B., 
whom  she  said  she  had  known  before  he  was  born. 
Dr.  B.  could  not  go,  so  I  went.  *Hech,'  she  said, 
*I  came  for  a  doctor.''  'Well,  I'm  the  doctor.  Come 
along.*  'Deed  no,'  she  said;  'ye're  no  a  doctor — 
ye're  just  a  wumman.'  I  did  laugh,  and  marched 
her  off.  She  was  grandly  tipsy  when  I  left  the 
home,  so  I  am  going  back  to  see  how  the  patient  has 
got  on.  In  spite  of  the  nursing. 

"I  had  a  second  polite  speech  made  to  me  last 
night.  I  was  introduced  into  a  house  by  the  person 
who  came  for  me  as  the  doctor.  When  I  had  been 
in  about  two  minutes,  a  small  man  of  four  years  old, 
said  suddenly  in  a  clear  voice  'That  Is  not  a  doctor, 
it's  a  girl!'  I  told  him  he  was  behind  the  age  not 
to  know  that  one  could  be  both. 

"We  had  a  chloroform  scare  this  morning.  I  ad- 
mired Dr.  S.'s  coolness  Immensely.  He  finished 
tying  his  stitches  quietly  while  two  doctors  were 
skipping  round  like  a  pair  of  frightened  girls.  It 
ended  all  right.  They  don't  know  how  to  give 
chloroform  anywhere  out  of  Scotland.  It  is  very 
odd. 

"Mrs.  D.  declared  she  was  going  to  write  to  you 
that  she  had  found  I  had  gone  out  without  my 
breakfast.  So,  here  are  the  facts!  I  was  out  last 
night,  and  was  not  up  when  they  rang  over  for  me. 


90  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

So,  before  having  my  breakfast  I  just  ran  over  to 
see  what  they  wanted  me  for,  and  finding  it  would 
keep  I  came  back  for  my  breakfast  to  find  Mrs.  D. 
here.  I  am  not  such  an  idiot  as  to  miss  my  meals, 
Papa,  dearest.  My  temper  won't  stand  it!  I  al- 
ways have  a  glass  of  milk  and  a  biscuit  when  I  go 
out  at  night.  I  am  as  sensible  as  I  can  be.  I  know 
you  cannot  do  work  with  blunt  instruments,  and  this 
instrument  blunts  very  easily  without  food  and 
exercise." 

"/arw.  I,  1894. 

"I  have  been  round  all  my  patients  to-day,  and 
had  to  drink  glasses  of  very  questionable  wine  in 
each  house.  It  is  really  very  trying  to  a  practical 
teetotaller  like  me.  Literally,  I  could  hardly  see 
them  when  I  left  the  last  house !  There  was  simply 
no  getting  off  it,  and  I  did  not  want  to  hurt  their 
feelings.  When  they  catch  hold  of  your  hand  and 
say,  'Now,  doctor  dear,  or  doctor  jewel,  ye'll  just 
be  takin'  a  wee  glass,  deed  an  ye  will,'  what  are  you 
to  do? 

"Do  you  think  this  'Famasha'  with  the  French  in 
Africa  is  going  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  big  war? 
That  is  an  awful  idea.  England  single-handed 
against  Europe.  But,  it  would  be  the  English- 
speaking  peoples,  Australia,  the  States,  and  Canada. 

"I  have  made  a  convert  to  the  ranks  of  women's 
rights.  Did  I  tell  you  that  Dr.  B.  and  I  had  had 
an  awful  argument.  I  never  mentioned  the  subject 
again,  for  it  is  no  good  arguing  with  a  man  who  has 
made  up  his  mind  (and  is  a  North  of  Ireland  man, 


LONDON  91 

who  will  die  in  the  last  ditch  into  the  bargain). 
However,  in  the  middle  of  the  operation,  he  sud- 
denly said,  'By  the  way,  you  are  right  about  the 
suffrage,  Miss  Inglis.'  Then  I  found  he  had  come 
over  about  the  whole  question.  As  a  convert  is 
always  the  most  violent  supporter,  I  hope  he'll  do 
some  good." 

'Teb.  5,  1894. 
"After  three  months  you  have  learnt  all  the  Ro- 
tunda can  teach.  If  you  were  a  man,  it  would  be 
worth  while  to  stay,  because  senior  students,  if  they 
are  men,  get  a  lot  of  the  C.C.'s  work  to  do.  But 
they  never  think  of  letting  you  do  it  if  you  are  a 
woman.  It  is  not  deliberate  unfairness,  but  they 
never  think  of  it.  If  one  stays  six  months  they 
examine  one,  and  give  a  degree,  L.M.,  Licentiate 
of  Midwifery.  If  I  could  I  would  rather  spend 
three  months  In  Paris  with  Pozzi.  I  have  learnt 
a  tremendous  lot  here,  and  feel  very  happy  about 
my  work  in  this  special  line.  It  is  their  methods 
which  are  so  good.  If  you  can  really  afford  to 
give  me  another  three  months  it  would  be  wiser  to 
go  to  Paris.  There  are  three  men  who  are  quite 
in  the  front  rank  there,  Pozzi,  Apostoli,  and  Peon." 

"Costigan's,  Upper  Sackville  Street, 
"Dublin,  Feb.  10,  1894. 

"I  got  your  letter  at  eleven  when  I  came  down  to 

breakfast.     I  shall  never  get  into  regular  order  for 

home  again.     No  one  blames  one  for  lying  in  bed 

here  or  being  late,  for  no  one  knows  how  late  you 


92  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

have  been  up  the  night  before,  or  how  many  cases 
you  have  been  at  before  you  get  to  the  lecture. 
It  is  partly  that,  and  partly  their  casual  Irish  ways. 
I  have  had  a  letter  from  Miss  MacGregor  this 
morning,  asking  what  I  should  say  to  our  starting 
together  in  Edinburgh.  It  is  a  thing  to  be  thought 
about.  It  is  quite  true,  as  she  says,  that  two  women 
are  much  more  comfortable  working  together.  They 
can  give  chloroform  for  one  another  and  so  on, 
and  consult  together.  On  the  other  hand,  we  could 
do  that  just  as  well  if  we  simply  started  separately, 
and  were  friends. 

''Miss  MacGregor  was  one  of  the  J.-B.  lot,  and  she 
and  I  had  awful  rows  over  that  question.  But  we 
certainly  got  on  very  well  before  that,  and,  as  she 
says,  that  was  not  a  personal  question.  I  am  quite 
sure  Miss  MacGregor  is  Scotch  enough  not  to  pro- 
pose any  arrangement  which  won't  be  to  her  own 
advantage.  Probably,  I  know  a  good  many  more 
people  than  she  does.  The  ques^tion  for  me  is 
whether  it  will  be  for  my  advantage.  I  am  rather 
inclined  to  think  it  will.  Miss  MacGregor  is  a 
splendid  pathologist.  Nowadays  one  ought  to  do 
a  lot  of  that  work  with  one's  cases,  and  I  have  been 
puzzling  over  how  one  could,  and  yet  keep  aseptic. 
If  we  could  make  some  arrangement  by  which  we 
could  work  into  one  another's  hands  in  that  way, 
I  think  it  would  be  for  both  our  advantages.  There 
is  one  thing  in  favour  of  it,  if  Miss  MacGregor 
and  I  are  definitely  working  together,  no  one  can  be 
astonished  at  our  not  calling  in  other  people.    Miss 


LONDON  93 

MacGregor,  apart  from  everything  else,  Is  distinctly 
one  of  our  best  women,  and  It  would  be  nice  working 
with  her.  What  do  you  think  of  it,  Papa,  dear? 
Of  course  I  should  live  at  home  In  any  case.  My 
consulting  rooms  anyhow  would  have  to  be  outside, 
for  the  old  ladies  would  not  climb  up  the  stair  I" 

"Dublin^  Feb.  1894. 
**I  do  thank  you  so  much  for  having  let  me  come 
here.  I  have  learnt  such  a  lot.  The  money  has 
certainly  not  been  wasted.  But  it  was  awfully  good 
of  you  to  let  me  come.  I  am  sure  it  will  make  a 
difference  all  my  life.  I  really  feel  on  my  feet  in 
this  subject  now.  The  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more 
I  think  It  would  be  wise  to  start  with  Miss  Mac- 
Gregor. Apart  altogether  from  Eva's  instincts  I  we 
will  start  the  dispensary,  and  we'll  end  by  having  a 
hospital  like  the  Rotunda,  where  students  shall  live 
on  the  premises — ^female  students  only.  Not  that 
these  boys  are  not  very  nice  and  good-natured,  only 
they  are  out  of  place  in  the  Rotunda." 

This  was  nearly  the  last  letter  written  by  Elsie 
to  her  father.  In  most  of  her  letters  during  the 
preceding  months  it  was  obvious  Mr.  Inglis' 
health  was  causing  her  anxiety,  and  the  inquiries 
and  suggestions  for  his  well-being  grew  more 
urgent  as  the  shadow  of  death  fell  increasingly 
dark  on  the  written  pages. 

Elsie  returned  to  receive  his  eager  welcome, 
but  even  her  eyes  were  blinded  to  the  rapidly 


94  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

approaching  parting.  On  the  15th  of  March 
1894,  she  wrote  to  her  brother  Ernest  in  India, 
telling  all  the  story  of  Mr.  Inglis'  passing  on 
the  13th  of  that  month.  There  was  much  suf- 
fering borne  with  quiet  patience.  ^'He  never 
once  complained:  I  never  saw  such  a  patient." 
At  the  end,  he  turned  towards  the  window,  and 
then  a  bright  look  came  into  his  eyes.  He  said, 
"Pull  down  the  blind."  Then  the  chivalrous, 
knightly  soul  passed  into  the  light  that  never 
was  on  sea  or  land. 

"It  was  a  splendid  life  he  led,"  writes  Elsie  to  her 
brother;  "his  old  Indian  friends  write  now  and  say 
how  *the  name  of  John  Inglis  always  represented 
everything  that  was  upright  and  straightforward 
and  high  principled  in  the  character  of  a  Christian 
gentleman.'  He  always  said  that  he  did  not  be- 
lieve that  death  was  the  stopping  place,  but  that  one 
would  go  on  growing  and  learning  through  lall 
eternity.  God  bless  him  in  his  onward  journey.  I 
simply  cannot  imagine  life  without  him.  We  had 
made  such  plans,  and  now  it  does  not  seem  worth 
while  to  go  on  working  at  all.  I  wish  he  could  have 
seen  me  begin.  He  was  so  pleased  about  my  be- 
ginning. I  said  it  would  be  such  a  joke  to  see  Dr. 
Elsie  Inglis  up.  Saturday  afternoons  were  to  be 
his,  and  he  was  to  come  over  in  my  trap. 

"He  never  thought  of  himself  at  all.  Even 
when  he  was  very  ill  at  the  end,  he  always  looked 


LONDON  95 

up  when  one  went  In,  and  said,  *Well,  my  darling/ 
I  am  glad  I  knew  about  nursing,  for  we  did  not  need 
to  have  any  stranger  about  him.  He  would  have 
hated  that'' 


CHAPTER  VI 

POLITICAL    ENFRANCHISEMENT    AND    NATIONAL 

POLITICS 

"Well  done,  New  Zealand !    I  expect  I  shall  live  to 
have  a  vote." — E.  M.  I.,  1891. 

"I  envy  not  in  any  mood 

The  captive  void  of  noble  rage, 
The  linnet  bom  within  the  cage, 
That  never  knew  the  summer  woods." 

"So  the  vote  has  come !  and  for  our  work.  Fancy  its 
having  taken  the  war  to  show  them  how  ready  we 
were  to  work !  Or  even  to  show  that  that  work  was 
necessary.  Where  do  they  think  the  world  would 
have  been  without  women's  work  all  these  ages?" — 
E.  M.  I.,  Reni,  Russia,  June  19 17. 

Mr.  David  Inglis,  writing  to  his  son  on  his 
marriage  in  1845,  says: — 

*'I  cannot  express  the  deep  Interest,  or  the  ardent 
hopes  with  which  my  bosom  Is  filled  on  the  occasion, 
or  the  earnest  though  humble  prayer  to  the  Giver 
of  all  good  which  it  has  uttered  that  He  may  shed 
abundantly  upon  you  both  the  rich  mercies  of  His 
grace :  with  those  feelings  I  take  each  of  you  to  my 
heart,  and  give  you  my  parental  love  and  blessing. 
You  have  told  me  enough  of  the  object  of  your 

96 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT         97 

fond  choice  to  make  her  henceforth  dear  to  me,  to 
all  of  us,  on  her  own  account,  as  well  as  yours. 

"And  here,  my  beloved  David,  I  would  turn  for 
a  moment  more  immediately  to  yourself,  as  being 
now  in  a  situation  very  different  from  that  in  which 
you  have  hitherto  been  placed.  As  a  husband,  then, 
it  will  now  behove  you  to  remember  that  you  are  not 
your  own  exclusive  property — that  for  a  single 
moment  you  must  never  forget;  the  tender  love  and 
affectionate  respect  and  consideration  which  are  due 
from  you  to  the  amiable  individual  who  has  be- 
stowed on  you  her  hand  and  heart,  it  will,  I  assure 
myself,  be  your  pleasing  duty  to  prove,  by  unceasing 
attention  to,  and  solicitude  for,  her  every  wish  how 
dearly  you  appreciate  her  worth,  as  well  as  gift\  and 
that  her  future  comfort  and  happiness  will  invari- 
ably possess  an  estimation  in  your  view  paramount 
to  every  feeling  that  can  more  immediately  or  per- 
sonally affect  yourself.  Let  such  be  manifest  in 
your  every  act,  as  connected  with  every  object  in 
which  she  is  concerned.  Her  love  and  affection  for 
you  will  then  be  reciprocal  and  pure  and  lasting,  and 
thus  will  you  become  to  each  other  what,  under 
God's  blessing,  you  are  meant  to  be — a  mutual  com- 
fort and  an  abiding  stay.  Make  her  the  confidential 
friend  of  your  bosom,  to  whom  its  every  thought 
must  unreservedly  be  imparted — the  soother  of  all  its 
cares,  its  anxieties,  and  disappointments,  when  they 
chance  to  arise;  the  fond  participator  in  all  your 
happiness  and  joys,  from  whatever  source  they  may 
spring — you  will  thus  be  discharging  a  duty  which 


98  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

your  sacred  obligations  at  the  altar  have  entailed 
upon  you." 

This  letter  has  been  quoted  with  its  phrasing 
of  seventy  years  ago,  because  it  shows  an  ad- 
vanced outlook  on  the  position  of  husband  and 
wife,  and  the  setting  forth  of  their  equality  and 
the  respect  paid  to  their  several  positions.  It 
may  have  influenced  Mr.  Inglis'  views,  both  in 
his  perfect  relations  with  his  wife  and  the  sym- 
pathetic liberty  of  thought  and  action  which  he 
encouraged  in  his  own  family. 

This  chapter  is  devoted  to  the  political  and 
public  life  of  Elsie  Inglis.  It  can  be  written 
in  a  fortunate  hour.  The  "common  cause"  to 
which  she  gave  so  much  of  her  life  has  now  been 
won.  The  tumult  and  the  turmoil  are  now 
hushed  in  peace  and  security.  The  age  which 
began  in  John  Stuart  Mill's  "Subjection  of 
Women"  has  ended  in  the  Representation  of 
the  People's  Bill.  It  is  possible  to  review  the 
political  period  of  the  generation  which  pro- 
duced Elsie  Inglis,  and  her  comrades  in  the 
struggle  against  the  disqualification  of  sex, 
without  raising  any  fresh  controversy. 

We  may  safely  say  that  Dr.  Inglis  was  one  of 
the  finest  types  of  women  produced  by  the  ideals 
and  inspiring  purposes  of  the  generation  to 
which  she  belonged.       She  was  born  when  a 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT  99 

woman  was  the  reigning  Sovereign,  and  when 
her  influence  and  power  were  at  its  height.  Four 
years  after  her  birth  the  Reform  Bill  of  1868 
was  to  make  the  first  claim  for  women  as  citizens 
in  the  British  Parliament.  The  Married  Wom- 
an's Property  Act,  and  the  laws  affecting 
Divorce,  had  recognised  them  as  something  else 
than  the  goods  and  chattels  or  the  playthings 
and  bondwomen  of  the  "predominant  partner.'' 
Mary  Somerville  had  convinced  the  world  that 
a  woman  could  have  a  brain.  Timidly,  and  yet 
resolutely,  women  were  claiming  a  higher  edu- 
cation, and  Universities  were  slamming  to  their 
doors,  with  a  petty  horde  of  maxims  claimed  to 
be  based  on  divine  authority.  Women  pioneers 
mounted  platforms  and  asserted  "Rights,"  and 
qualified  for  jealously  closed  professions — al- 
ways, from  the  first,  upheld  and  companied  by 
"Greathearts,"  men  few  but  chosen,  who,  like 
John  Inglis,  recognised  that  no  community  was 
the  stronger  for  keeping  its  people,  be  they 
black  or  white,  male  or  female,  in  any  form  of 
ignorance  or  bonded  serfdom. 

As  Elsie  grew  up,  she  found  herself  walking 
in  the  new  age.  Doors  were  set  ajar,  if  not  fully 
opened.  The  first  wave  of  ridicule  and  of  con- 
scientious objections  had  spent  its  force.  A  girl's 
school  might  play  games  decorously,  and  not 
lose  all  genteel  deportment.     Girls  might  show 


100  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

a  love  of  knowledge,  and  no  longer  be  hooted 
as  blue-stockings.  The  use  of  the  globes  and 
cross-stitch  gave  place  to  learning  which  might 
fit  them  to  be  educated,  and  useful  members  of 
the  community.  Ill-health  ceased  to  be  con- 
sidered part  of  the  curse  of  Eve,  to  be  borne 
with  swooning  resignation  on  the  wide  sofas  of 
the  early  Victorian  Age.  Ignorance  and  inno- 
cence were  not  recognised  as  twin  sisters,  and 
women,  having  eaten  of  the  tree  of  knowledge, 
looked  round  a  world  which  prided  itself  on 
giving  equal  justice  to  all  men,  and  discovered 
that  very  often  that  axiom  covered  a  multitude 
of  sins  of  injustice  against  all  womankind. 

It  was  through  Elsie's  professional  life  that 
she  learnt  to  know  how  often  the  law  was  against 
the  woman's  best  interests,  and  it  was  always  in 
connection  with  some  reform  that  she  longed 
to  initiate,  that  she  expressed  a  desire  for  the 
Yote. 

To  her  Father 

"Glasgow,  1891. 
"Many  thanks  for  your  letter  about  women's 
rights.  You  are  ahead  of  all  the  world  in  everything, 
and  they  gradually  come  up  into  line  with  you — ^the 
Westminster  Confession  and  everything  except 
Home  Rule!  The  amusing  thing  about  women 
preaching  is  that  they  do  it,  but  as  it  is  not  in  the 
churches  it  is  not  supposed  to  be  in  opposition  to 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT       101 

Paul.  They  are  having  lots  of  meetings  In  the  hall 
downstairs;  every  single  one  of  them  Is  addressed 
by  a  woman.  But,  of  course,  they  could  not  give  the 
same  address  In  a  church  and  with  men  listening!  At 
Queen  Margaret's  here,  they  are  having  a  course  of 
lectures  on  the  Old  Testament  from  the  lecturer  on 
that  subject  in  the  University,  but  then,  of  course 
it  Is  not  'Divinity.' 


>  n 


The  opponents  to  Woman's  Franchise  admit- 
tedly occupied  an  illogical  position,  and  Elsie's 
abounding  sense  of  humour  never  failed  to  make 
use  of  all  the  opportunities  of  laughter  which 
the  many  absurdities  of  the  long  fight  evoked. 
No  one  with  that  sense  as  highly  developed 
could  ever  turn  cynical  or  bitter.  It  was  only 
when  cruelty  and  injustice  came  under  her  ken 
that  a  fine  scorn  dominated  her  thought  and 
speech.  She  gives  to  her  father  some  of  these 
instances : — 

''I  got  a  paper  to  sign  to  thank  the  M.P.'s  who 
voted  for  Sir  A.  Rollitt's  Woman's  Suffrage  Bill. 
I  got  It  filled  up  in  half  a  minute.  I  wish  she  had 
sent  half  a  dozen.  There  is  no  question  among 
women  who  have  to  work  for  themselves  about 
wanting  the  suffrage.  It  Is  the  women  who  are 
safe  and  sound  in  their  own  drawing-rooms  who 
don't  see  what  on  earth  they  want  it  for. 

"I  have  just  been  so  angry!  A  woman  came  in 
yesterday  very  111.     A.   took  down  her  case,   and 


102  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

thought  she  would  have  to  have  an  operation.  Then 
her  husband  arrived,  and  calmly  said  she  was  to  go 
home,  because  he  could  not  look  after  the  children. 
So  I  said  that  if  she  went  she  went  on  her  own 
responsibility,  for  I  would  not  give  my  consent.  He 
said  the  baby  was  ill.  I  said,  'Well,  take  it  to  a 
hospital.'  Then  it  turned  out  it  was  not  ill,  but  had 
cried  last  night.  I  said  I  saw  very  well  what  it 
was,  that  he  had  had  a  bad  night,  and  had  just 
determined  that  his  wife  should  have  the  bad  night 
to-night,  even  though  she  was  ill,  instead  of  him. 
He  did  look  ashamed  of  himself,  selfish  cad!  Help- 
less creature,  he  could  not  even  arrange  for  some 
one  to  come  in  and  take  charge  of  those  children 
unless  his  wife  went  home  to  do  it.  She  had  got 
some  one  yesterday,  but  he  had  had  a  row  with  her. 
I  gave  him  my  mind  pretty  clearly,  but  I  went  in 
just  now  to  find  she  had  gone.  I  said  she  was 
stupid.  So  one  woman  said,  *It  was  not  'er  fault, 
Miss;  'e  would  have  it.' 

"I  wonder  when  married  women  will  learn  they 
have  any  other  duty  in  the  world  than  to  obey  their 
husbands.  They  were  not  even  her  children — they 
were  step-children.  You  don't  know  what  trouble 
we  have  here  with  the  husbands.  They  will  come 
in  the  day  before  the  operation,  after  the  woman 
has  been  screwed  up  to  it,  and  worry  them  with  all 
sorts  of  outside  things,  and  want  them  home  when 
they  are  half  dying.  Any  idea  that  anybody  is  to 
be  thought  of  but  themselves  never  enters  their 
lordly  minds,  and  the  worst  of  it  is  these  stupid 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT       103 

idiots  of  women  don't  seem  to  think  so  either: 
*  'E  wants  it,  Miss,'  settles  the  question.  I  always 
say — *It  does  not  matter  one  fig  what  he  wants. 
The  question  Is  what  you  want.'  They  don't  seem 
to  think  they  have  any  right  to  any  individual  exist- 
ence. Well,  I  feel  better  now,  but  I  wish  I  could 
have  scragged  that  beast.     I  have  to  go  to  the  wards 

now  I 

"We  had  another  row  with  a  tyrannical  husband. 
I  did  not  know  whether  to  be  most  angry  with  him 
or  his  fool  of  a  wife.  She  had  one  of  the  most  pain- 
ful thifflgs  anybody  can  have,  an  abscess  in  her 
breast.  It  was  so  bad  Miss  Webb  would  not  do 
anything  for  it  In  the  out-patients',  but  said  she  was 
to  come  In  at  once.  The  woman  said  she  would 
go  and  arrange  for  somebody  to  look  after  her  baby 
and  come  back  at  six.  At  six  appeared  her  lord  and 
master.  7  cannot  let  my  wife  come  In,  as  the  baby 
is  not  old  enough  to  be  left  with  anybody  else.* 
Did  you  ever  hear  anything  so  monstrous?  That 
one  human  being  is  to  settle  for  another  human  being 
whether  she  Is  to  be  cured  or  not.  I  asked  him 
whether  he  knew  how  painful  it  was,  and  If  he  had 
to  bear  the  pain.  Miss  Webb  appealed  to  him,  that 
he  was  responsible  for  his  wife's  health,  for  he 
seemed  to  assume  he  was  not.  Both  grounds  were 
far  above  his  Intellect,  either  his  responsibility  or 
his  wife's  rights.  He  just  stood  there  like  an  ob- 
stinate mule.  We  told  him  it  was  positively  brutal, 
and  that  he  was  to  go  at  once  and  get  a  good  doctor 


104  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

home  with  him  if  he  would  not  let  her  in.     Of 
course,  he  did  not. 

"What  a  fool  the  woman  must  have  been  to  have 
educated  him  up  to  that.  There  really  was  no 
necessity  for  her  to  stay  out  because  he  said  she  was 
to — poor  thing.  Miss  Webb  and  I  have  struck  up 
a  great  friendship  as  the  result.  After  we  had  both 
fumed  about  for  some  time,  I  said,  'Well,  the  only 
way  to  educate  that  kind  of  man,  or  that  kind  of 
woman,  is  to  get  the  franchise.'  Miss  Webb  said, 
*Bravo,  bravo,'  then  I  found  she  was  a  great  fran- 
chise woman,  and  has  been  having  terrible  difficulties 
with  her  L.W.A.  here." 

The  writer  may  add  one  more  to  these  in- 
stances. Suffrage  meetings  were  of  a  neces- 
sity much  alike,  and  the  round  of  argument  was 
much  the  same.  Spade-work  had  to  be  done 
among  men  and  women  who  had  the  mental  out- 
look of  these  patients  and  the  overlords  of  their 
destiny.  Meetings  were  rarely  enthusiastic  or 
crowded,  and  it  was  often  like  speaking  into  the 
heart  of  a  pincushion.  To  one  of  these  meetings 
Dr.  Inglis  came  by  train  straight  from  her  prac- 
tice. In  memory's  halls  all  meetings  are  alike, 
but  one  stands  out,  where  Dr.  Inglis  illustrated 
her  argument  by  a  fact  in  her  day's  experience. 
The  law  does  not  permit  an  operation  on  a  mar- 
ried woman  without  her  husband's  consent. 
That  day  the  consent  had  been  refused,  and  the 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT       105 

woman  was  to  be  left  to  lingering  suffering  from 
which  only  death  could  release  her.  The  voice 
and  the  thrill  which  pervaded  speaker  and  audi- 
ence as  Dr.  Inglis  told  the  tale  and  pointed  the 
moral,  remains  an  abiding  memory. 

Her  politics  were  Liberal,  and,  what  was 
more  remarkable,  she  was  a  convinced  Home 
Ruler.  Those  who  believe  that  women  in 
politics  naturally  take  the  line  of  the  home,  may 
find  here  a  very  strong  instance  of  the  inde- 
pendent mind,  producing  no  rift  within  the  lute 
that  sounded  such  a  perfect  note  of  unison  be- 
tween her  and  the  prevailing  influence  of  her 
youth.  Mr.  Inglis  had  done  his  work  in  India, 
and  his  politics  were  of  an  Imperialist  rather 
than  that  of  a  ''Home  Ruler  All  Round.''  When 
Mr.  Gladstone  introduced  his  Home  Rule  Bill 
of  1893,  Elsie  complains  of  the  obstructive  talk 
in  Parliament.  Mr.  Inglis  gently  says  she 
seems  to  wish  it  passed  without  discussion.  Elsie 
replies  on  the  points  she  thinks  salient  and  likely 
to  work,  and  wonders  why  they  should  not  com- 
mend themselves  to  sense  and  not  words.  The 
family  have  recollections  of  long  and  not  acri- 
monious debates  well  sustained  on  either  side. 

She  was  a  member  of  the  W.L.F.,  and  was 
always  impatient  of  the  way  Party  was  placed 
before  the  Franchise. 


106  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

"I  was  sorry  to  see  how  the  Suffrage  question  was 
pushed  into  the  background  by  Lady  Aberdeen. 
However,  I  shall  stick  to  the  Federation,  and  bring 
them  to  their  senses  on  that  point  as  far  as  my  influ- 
ence goes.  It  is  simply  sham  Liberalism  that  will 
not   recognise   that   it   is    a    real   Liberal   question 

(1893).   ^ 

*'That  is  a  capital  letter  of  Miss  M'Laren's.  It 
is  quite  true,  and  women  are  awful  fools  to  truckle 
to  their  party,  instead  of  putting  their  foot  down, 
about  the  Franchise.  You  would  certainly  hear 
more  about  wife  murders  than  you  do  at  present, 
if  the  women  had  a  vote. 

"Do  you  know  what  they  said  at  the  Liberal 
Club  the  other  day  in  answer  to  some  deputation,  or 
appeal,  or  rather  it  was  said,  in  the  discussion,  that 
the  Liberal  Party  would  do  all  they  could  to  remedy 
abuses  and  give  women  justice,  but  the  vote  they 
would  not  give,  because  they  would  put  a  power 
into  women's  hand  which  could  never  be  taken  away. 
Plain  speaking,  was  it  not? 

"Did  I  tell  you  that  I  have  to  speak  at  a  drawing- 
room  meeting  on  Woman's  Suffrage?  Mrs.  Elmy 
asked  me  to.  I  had  just  refused  to  write  a  paper 
for  her  on  the  present  state  of  medical  education 
in  the  country,  for  I  thought  that  would  be  too  great 
cheek  in  a  house  surgeon,  so  I  did  not  like  to  refuse 
the  other. 

"The  drawing-room  meeting  yesterday  was  very 
good.  I  got  there  late,  and  found  a  fearfully  and 
awfully  fashionable  audience  being  harangued  by  a 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT        107 

very   smart-looking  man,   who    spoke   uncommonly 
well,  and  was  saying  everything  I  meant  to  say. 

"Mrs.  Elmy  smiled  and  nodded  away  to  me,  and 
suddenly  it  flashed  on  me  that  I  was  to  second  the 
motion  this  man  was  speaking  to.  I  was  in  such 
an  awful  funk  that  I  got  cool,  and  got  up  and  told 
them  that  I  did  not  think  Mr.  Wilkins  had  left  any 
single  thing  for  me  to  say;  however,  as  things 
struck  people  in  different  ways  I  should  simply  tell 
them  how  it  struck  me,  and  then  went  ahead  with 
what  I  meant  to  say  when  I  got  in.  Mrs.  Elmy  was 
quite  pleased,  and  several  people  came  up  after- 
wards, and  said  I  had  got  on  all  right.  Mrs.  Elmy 
said,  I  had  not  repeated  Mr.  W.,  only  emphasised 
him.  He  was  such  a  fluent  speaker,  he  scared  me 
awfully." 

The  decade  that  saw  the  controversy  of  Home 
Rule  for  Ireland,  was  the  first  that  brought 
women  prominently  into  political  organisations. 
Many  women's  associations  were  formed,  and 
the  religious  aspect  as  between  Ulster  and  the 
South  interested  many  very  deeply.  Elsie  was 
not  a  Liberal-Unionist,  and,  as  she  states  her 
case  to  her  father,  there  is  much  that  shows  that 
she  was  thinking  the  matter  out  for  herself,  on 
lines  which  were  then  fresher  than  they  are 

to-day. 

From  Glasgow,  in  1891,  she  writes: — 

"I  have  spent  a  wicked  Sunday.     I  read  all  the 

morning,    and  then  went  up   to   the   Infirmary  to 


108  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

bandage  with  Dr.  D.  Dr.  T.  says  I  am  quite  sure 
to  be  plucked,  after  such  worldliness.  I  have  dis- 
covered he  is  an  Australian  from  Victoria.  Dr.  D. 
is  an  Aberdeen  man  and  a  great  admirer  of  George 
Smith.  Also,  a  violent  Home  Ruler.  Never  mind 
about  the  agricultural  labourer,  Papa  dear  I  I  am 
afraid  Gladstone's  majority  won't  be  a  working 
one,  and  we  shall  have  the  whole  row  over  again  in 
six  months.  Dr.  D.  says  every  available  voter  has 
been  seized  by  the  scruff  of  his  neck  and  made  to 
vote  this  time.  And  six  months  hence  there'll  be  no 
fresh  light  on  the  situation,  and  we'll  be  where  we 
are  now.  I  should  not  wonder  if  the  whole  thing 
makes  us  devise  some  plan  for  one  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment and  local  government  for  Ireland,  Scotland, 
and  the  Colonies,  ending  in  making  the  integrity  of 
the  Empire  'and  unity  of  the  English  speaking 
race'  more  apparent  than  it  is  now,  and  with  the 
Irish  contented  and  managing  their  own  affairs  In 
their  own  mad  way.  Our  future  trouble  is  with 
the  Labour  Party. 

*'Mr.  Gladstone  has  been  so  engrossed  with  his 
H.R.  measure  that  he  does  not  seem  to  have  noticed 
these  other  questions  that  have  been  quickly  grow- 
ing, and  he  has  made  two  big  blunders  about 
Woman's  Suffrage  and  the  Labour  question.  I  have 
no  doubt  these  men  are  talking  a  lot  of  nonsense, 
and  are  trying  for  Impossibilities,  but  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  sense  In  what  they  say.  It  is  no  good  shut- 
ting our  eyes  to  the  facts  they  bring  forward. 

''As  to  Mr.  D.,  I  am  very  much  afraid  you  would 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT       109 

not  agree  with  him.  He  is  a  rank  Socialist.  The 
only  point  in  which  he  agrees  with  you  is  that  he 
would  make  everybody  do  what  he  thinks  right. 
Only  his  ideas  of  right  are  very  different  from 
yours.  He  believes  in  an  eight-hour  day,  local 
option,  and  State-owned  mines.  His  chief  amuse- 
ment at  present  is  arguing  with  me.  He  generally 
gets  angry,  and  says,  'I  argue  like  a  woman,'  but 
he  always  pluckily  begins  again.  He  was  a  trades- 
man, and  gave  it  up  because  he  says  you  cannot  be 
an  honest  tradesman  nowadays.  He  is  studying 
medicine;  the  last  day  I  worked  at  'brains'  he 
rampaged  about  the  room  arguing  about  the  un- 
earned increment.  I  tell  him  he  must  come  and 
argue  in  Edinburgh — I  have  not  time  at  present. 
"I  will  tell  you  what  I  think  of  the  Home  Rule 
Bill  to-morrow — that  is  to  say,  If  I  have  time  to 
read  it.  It  is  really  a  case  of  ofUcers  and  men  here 
just  now.  I  can't  say  'go  on'  instead  of  'come  on.' 
I  cannot  order  cold  spongings  and  hot  fomentations 
by  the  dozen  and  then  sit  in  my  room  and  read  the 
newspapers,  can  I?" 

"Glasgow,  May  1892. 
"What  do  you  think  of  Lord  Salisbury's  speech, 
inciting  to  rebellion  and  civil  war?  Now,  don't 
think  of  it  as  Lord  Salisbury  and  Ulster,  but  think 
of  it  as  advice  given  by  Mr.  Gladstone  to  the  rest  of 
Ireland.  If  you  like  to  take  the  lead  into  your  own 
hands  and  march  on  Dublin;  I  don't  know  that  any 
Government  would  care  to  use  the  forces  of  the 
Crown  against  you.     You  will  be  quite  justified  be- 


110  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

cause  the  Government  of  your  country  is  in  the  hands 
of  your  hereditary  foes.  There  is  only  one  good 
point  in  Lord  Salisbury's  speech,  and  that  is  that  he 
does  not  sham  that  the  Ulster  men  are  Irishmen. 
He  calls  them  a  colony  from  this  country.  Lord  S. 
must  have  been  feeling  desperate  before  he  made 
that  speech." 

"1894. 
"I   think   Mr.    Chamberlain^s   speech   was    very 

clever.   It  was  this  special  Home  Rule  Bill  he  puUecJ 

to  pieces,  and  one  could  not  help  feeling  that  that 

would  have  been  the  result  whatever  the  Bill  had 

been,   if  it  had  been   introduced  by   anybody  but 

Mr.  C.     His  argument  seemed  to  be  in  favour  of 

Imperial  Federation,  as  far  as  I  could  make  out.    I 

have  no  doubt  the  Bill  can  be  very  much  improved 

in  committee,  but  the  ground-work  of  it  is  all  right. 

The  two  Houses  and  the  gradual  giving  over  of  the 

police  and  land,  when  they  have  had  time  to  find 

their  feet.     As  to  the  retaining  the  Irish  members 

in  Parliament  being  totally  illogical,  there  is  noth* 

ing  in  that;  we  always  make  illogical  things  work. 

And  the  Irish  members  must  stay. 

*'I  do  like  Mr.  Balfour.  He  is  so  honest.  I  ex* 
pect  he  hates  the  Irish  Party  as  much  as  any  man, 
but  he  spoke  up  for  them  all  the  same.  If  he  had 
not,  I  don't  believe  Mr.  Chamberlain  and  some 
of  the  others  would  have  spoken  as  they  did.  The 
Conservative  Party  was  quite  inclined  to  laugh  at 
the  paid  stipendiaries  until  Mr.  Balfour  spoke. 

"I  have  been  reading  up  the  Bishop  of  Chester's 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT       111 

scheme  and  the  Direct  Veto  Bill.  I  don't  like  his 
scheme.  It  would  be  very  nice  to  turn  all  the  pubs 
into  coffee-houses,  but  a  big  company  over  whom 
the  ratepayers  have  no  control  would  be  just  as 
likely  to  do  what  would  pay  best,  as  the  tramway 
companies  now,  who  work  their  men  seventeen  hours 
and  their  horses  three,  at  a  stretch.  It  would  be 
quite  a  different  thing  to  put  the  pubs  under  the 
Town  and  County  Councils.  As  to  this  Bill  it  is 
not  to  stop  people  drinking,  but  simply  to  shut  up 
pubs.  A  man  can  still  buy  his  whisky  and  get 
drunk  in  his  own  house,  but  a  community  says,  'We 
won't  have  the  nuisance  of  a  pub  at  every  corner,' 
and  I  am  not  sure  that  they  have  not  that  right,  just 
as  much  as  the  private  individual  has  to  get  drunk 
if  he  chooses.  A  great  many  men  would  keep 
straight  if  the  temptation  were  not  thrown  in  their 
faces.  The  system  of  licenses  was  instituted  for 
the  good  of  the  public,  not  the  good  of  the  publican. 
"The  Elections  will  be  three  weeks  after  my 
exam.  Dearest  Papa ! — There  Is  as  much  chance 
of  Mr.  Gladstone  being  beaten  In  Midlothian  as 
there  is  of  a  Conservative  majority.'* 

Another  friend  writes:— 

"I  should  like  to  send  you  a  recollection  of  her  in 
the  early  Nineties.  My  friend.  Dr.  Jessie  Mac- 
Gregor,  wrote  to  my  home  In  Rothesay,  asking  us 
to  put  up  Dr.  Inglls,  who  was  to  give  an  address  at 
a  Sanitary  Congress  to  be  held  there.  It  was,  I 
believe,  her  first  public  appearance,  and  she  did  do 


112  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

well.  One  woman  alone  on  a  platform  filled  with 
well-known  doctors  from  all  parts  I  Her  subject 
was  advocating  women  as  sanitary  inspectors.  She 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  that  movement  also.  I 
can  well  remember  her,  a  slim  little  girl  in  black, 
fearless  as  ever,  doing  her  part.  After  she  had 
finished,  there  was  a  running  criticism  of  her  sub- 
ject. Many  against  her  view,  few  for  the  cause  on 
which  she  was  speaking.  It  was  an  unique  experi- 
ence. The  discussion  got  quite  hot.  One  well- 
known  doctor  asked  us  to  picture  his  dear  friend 
Elsie  Inglis  carrying  out  a  six-foot  smallpox  patient. 
"I  think  she  was  the  first  lady  medical  to  speak 
at  a  Congress.  It  was  such  a  pleasure  to  entertain 
her,  she  was  so  quiet  and  unobtrusive,  and  yet  so 
humorous.  I  never  met  her  again,  but  I  could 
never  forget  her,  though  we  were  just  like  ships 
that  pass  in  the  night." 

One  of  her  Suffrage  organisers,  Miss  Bury, 
gives  a  vivid  picture  of  her  work  in  the  Suffrage 
cause : — 

"It  was  Dr.  Elsie  Inglis  who  brought  me  to  Scot- 
land, and  sent  me  to  organise  Suffrage  societies  in 
the  Highlands.  I  speak  of  her  as  I  knew  her,  the 
best  of  chiefs,  so  kind  and  encouraging  and  apprecia- 
tive of  one's  efforts,  even  when  they  were  not  al- 
ways crowned  with  success.  I  remember  saying  I 
was  disappointed  because  the  hall  was  only  about 
three-quarters  full,  and  her  reply  was,  *My  dear,  I 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT       113 

was  not  counting  the  people,  I  was  thinking  of  the 
efforts  which  had  brought  those  who  were  there.' 

"Her  letters  were  an  Inspiration.  She  gave  one 
the  full  responsibility  of  one's  position,  and  always 
expected  the  best.  Resolutely  direct,  and  straight- 
forward in  her  dealings  with  me  as  a  subordinate 
worker,  she  never  failed  to  tell  me  of  any  word 
of  appreciation  that  reached  her,  as  she  also  told 
me  candidly  If  she  heard  of  any  criticism.  She  had 
such  a  big,  generous  mind,  even  condescending  to 
give  an  opportunity  for  argument  when  there  was 
any  difference  of  opinion,  and  absolutely  tolerant 
and  kind  when  one  did  not  agree  with  her. 

*'She  was  always  considerate  of  one's  health,  and 
insisted  that  the  hours  laid  down  for  work  were  not 
to  be  exceeded,  or,  if  this  was  unavoidable,  that  the 
time  must  be  taken  off  as  soon  as  possible  after- 
wards. She  only  saw  difficulties  to  conquer  them, 
and  I  well  remember  in  one  of  her  letters  from 
Lazaravatz,  she  wrote  so  characteristically — 'the 
work  is  most  interesting,  bristling  with  difficulties.' 

''My  happiest  recollection  is  of  a  visit  to  the 
Highlands,  to  speak  at  some  Suffrage  meetings  I 
had  arranged  for  her.  In  the  train  she  was  always 
busy  writing,  in  that  beautiful  clear  characteristic 
hand,  like  herself,  triumphing  over  the  jolting  of 
the  Highland  Railway,  as  she  did  later  in  Serbia. 
In  the  early  morning  she  had  to  catch  a  train  at 
Inverness,  and  we  went  by  motor  from  Nairn.  For 
once  the  writing  was  laid  aside,  and  she  gave  her- 
self up  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  sunrise,  and  the 


114  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

beautiful  lights  on  the  Ross-shire  hills,  as  we 
travelled  along  the  shores  of  the  Moray  Firth. 
When  the  car  broke  down,  out  came  the  despatch 
case  again,  while  the  chauffeur  and  I  put  on  the 
Stepney.  There  was  no  complaining  about  the  lost 
train,  a  wire  was  sent  to  the  committee  apologising 
for  her  absence,  and  then  she  immediately  turned 
her  attention  to  other  business." 

One  who  first  came  under  her  influence  as  a 
patient,  and  became  a  warm  friend,  gives  some 
reminiscences.  Her  greeting  to  the  elect  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year  was,  "A  good  new  year, 
and  the  Vote  this  year." 

"I  remember  once,  as  we  descended  the  steps  of 
St.  Giles'  after  attending  a  service  at  which  the 
Edinburgh  Town  Council  was  present,  she  spoke 
joyfully  of  the  time  coming  when  we,  the  women  of 
Edinburgh  and  of  Scotland,  would  'help  to  build 
the  New  Jerusalem,  with  the  weapon  ready  to  our 
hand — ^the  Vote.'  " 

The  year  1906  brought  the  Liberals  into  polit- 
ical power,  and  with  the  great  wave  of  demo- 
cratic enthusiasm  which  gave  the  Government 
of  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman  an  enor- 
mous majority  there  came  other  expressions  of 
the  people's  will. 

The  Franchise  for  women  had  hitherto  been 
of  academic  interest  in  the  community:  a  crank, 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT        115 

many  thought  it,  like  total  abstinence  or  Chris- 
tian Science.  The  claims  of  women  were  fre- 
quently brought  before  Parliament  by  private 
members,  and  if  the  Bill  was  not  ''talked  out,'^ 
it  was  talked  round,  as  one  of  the  best  jests  of  a 
Parliamentary  holiday.  The  women  who  ad- 
vocated it  were  treated  with  tolerance,  their 
public  advocacy  was  deemed  a  tour  de  force,  and 
their  portraits  were  always  of  the  nature  of 
caricatures,  except  those  in  Punchy  where  the 
opponent  was  caricatured,  and  the  women  im- 
mortalised. 

The  Liberal  party  found  its  right  wing  main- 
ly composed  of  Labour,  and  Socialist  members 
were  returned  to  Parliament.  From  that  sec- 
tion of  thought  sprang  the  militant  movement, 
and  the  whole  question  of  the  enfranchisement 
of  women  took  on  a  different  aspect. 

This  chapter  does  not  attempt  to  give  a  his- 
tory of  the  "common  cause,"  or  the  reasons  for 
the  rapid  way  it  came  to  the  front,  and  ranked 
with  Ireland  as  among  the  questions  which,  left 
unsettled,  became  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  any 
Government  that  attempted  to  govern  against,  or 
leaving  outside  the  expressed  will  of  the  people. 

This  is  no  place  to  examine  the  causes  which, 
along  with  the  militant  movement,  but  always 
separated  from  them,  poured  such  fresh  life 
and  vigour  into  the  old  constitutional  and  law- 


116  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

abiding  effort  to   procure   the   free   rights   of 
citizenship  for  women. 

The  pace  quickened  to  an  extent  which  was 
bewildering.  Where  a  dozen  meetings  a  year 
had  been  the  portion  of  many  speakers,  they 
were  multiplied  by  the  tens  and  scores.  Or- 
ganisations had  to  be  expanded.  A  fighting 
fund  collected,  meetings  arranged,  debates  were 
held  all  over  the  country  and  among  all  classes. 
A  press,  which  had  never  written  up  the  subject 
while  its  advocates  were  law-abiding,  tumbled 
over  each  other  to  advertise  every  movement  of 
all  sections  of  suffragists.  It  must  be  admitted 
the  militants  gave  them  plenty  of  copy,  and  the 
constitutionalists  had  an  uneasy  sense  that  their 
stable  companions  would  kick  over  the  traces  in 
some  embarrassing  and  unexpected  way  on  every 
new  occasion.  Still  the  tide  flowed  steadily  for 
the  principle,  and  those  who  had  its  guidance  in 
Parliament  and  the  country  had  to  use  all  the 
strength  of  the  movement  in  getting  it  well 
organised  and  carefully  worked.  Societies  were 
federated,  and  the  greatly  growing  numbers  co- 
ordinated into  a  machine  which  could  bring  the 
best  pressure  to  bear  on  Parliament.  The  well- 
planned  Federation  of  Scottish  Suffrage  So- 
cieties owed  much  to  Dr.  Inglish'  gift  of  organ- 
isation and  of  taking  opportunity  by  the  hand. 
She  was  Honorary  Secretary  to  the  Scottish 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT        117 

Federation,  and  in  those  fighting  years  between 
1906  and  1914  she  impressed  herself  much  on 
its  policy.  In  the  early  years  of  her  professional 
life,  she  used  gaily  to  forecast  for  herself  a  large 
and  paying  practice.  Her  patients  never  suf- 
fered, but  she  sacrificed  her  professional  pros- 
pects in  a  large  measure  for  her  work  for  the 
Franchise.  She  gave  her  time  freely,  and  she 
raised  money  at  critical  times  by  parting  with 
what  was  of  value  and  in  her  power  to  give. 
Perhaps,  the  writer  may  here  again  give  her 
own  reminiscences.  Her  fellowship  with  Dr. 
Inglis  was  all  too  rarely  social;  they  met  almost 
entirely  in  their  suffrage  work.  To  know  Dr. 
Inglis  at  all  was  to  know  her  well.  The  trans- 
parent sincerity  and  simplicity  of  her  manner 
left  nothing  to  be  discovered.  One  felt  instinc- 
tively she  was  a  comrade  one  could  "go  tiger- 
hunting  with,"  and  to  be  in  her  company  was  to 
be  sustained  by  a  true  helpmate.  We  were 
asked  to  speak  together.  Invited  by  the  elect, 
and  sometimes  by  the  opponents  to  enjoy  hos- 
pitality. Dr.  Inglis  was  rarely  able  to  come  in 
time  for  the  baked  meats  before  we  ascended 
the  platform,  and  uttered  our  platitudes  to 
rooms  often  empty  woodyards,  stuck  about  with 
a  remnant  of  those  who  would  be  saved.  She 
usually  met  us  on  the  platform,  having  arrived 
by  the  last  train,  and  obliged  to  leave  by  the 


118  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

first.  But  she  never  came  stale  or  discouraged. 
There  was  always  the  smile  at  the  last  set-back, 
the  ready  joke  at  our  opponents,  the  subtle  sense 
that  she  was  out  to  win,  the  compelling  force 
of  sustained  effort  that  made  at  least  one  of  her 
yoke-fellows  ashamed  of  the  faint  heart  that 
could  never  hope  to  win  through.  Sometimes 
we  travelled  back  together;  more  often  we 
would  meet  next  day  in  St.  Giles'  after  the  daily 
service,  and  our  walk  home  was  always  a  cheer. 
"Never  mind"  the  note  to  discouragement. 
"Remember  this  or  that  in  our  favour;  our  next 
move  must  be  in  this  direction."  And  the 
thought  was  always  there  (if  her  unself con- 
sciousness prevented  it  being  spoken — as  one 
wishes  to-day  it  had  been) — "The  meeting  went, 
because  you  were  there  and  set  your  whole  soul 
on  Villing'  it  through." 

She  had  no  sympathy  with  militantism. 
There  was  no  better  fighter  with  legitimate 
weapons,  but  she  saw  how  closely  the  claim  to 
do  wrong  that  good  might  come  was  related  to 
anarchy,  and  her  sense  of  true  citizenship  was 
outraged  by  law-breaking  which,  to  her  clear 
judgment,  could  only  retard  the  ultimate  tri- 
umph of  a  cause  rooted  in  all  that  was  just  and 
righteous.  She  was  not  confused  by  any  cross- 
currents of  admiration  for  individual  courage 
and  self-sacrifice,  and  her  one  desire  was  to  see 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT       119 

that  the  Federation  was  "purged"  of  all  those 
who  belonged  to  the  forces  of  disintegration. 

She  had  the  fruit  of  her  political  sagacity, 
and  her  fearless  pursuit  after  integrity  in  deed 
and  in  word.  When  the  moment  came  when 
she  was  to  go  to  the  battle  fronts  of  the  world, 
a  succourer  of  many,  she  went  in  the  strength 
of  the  Suffrage  women  of  Scotland.  They  were 
her  shield  and  buckler,  and  their  loyal  support 
of  her  work  and  its  ideals  was  her  exceeding 
great  reward.  Without  their  organised  strength 
she  could  never  have  called  into  existence  those 
units  and  their  equipment  which  have  justly 
earned  the  praises  of  nations  allied  in  arms. 

With  the  rise  of  the  militant  movement,  the 
whole  Suffrage  cause  passed  through  a  cloud 
of  opprobrium  and  almost  universal  objurga- 
tion. Women  were  all  tarred  with  the  same 
stick,  and  fell  under  one  condemnation.  It  is 
now  of  little  moment  to  recall  this,  except  in  as 
much  as  it  affected  Elsie  Inglis.  The  Scottish 
Suffrage  societies,  who  gave  their  organisation 
and  their  workers  to  start  the  Scottish  Women's 
Hospitals,  found  that  the  community  desired  to 
forget  the  unpopular  Suffrage,  and  to  remember 
only  the  Scottish  Hospitals.  Speakers  for  the 
work  that  Dr.  Inglis  was  doing  were  asked  to 
avoid  "the  common  cause."  No  one  who  knew 
her  would  consent  to  deny  by  implication  one  of 


.120  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

the  deepest  mainsprings  of  her  work.  The 
Churches  were  equally  timid  in  aught  that  gave 
comfort  or  consolation  to  those  who  were  loyal 
to  their  Christian  social  ideal  for  women.  No 
organised  society  owes  more  to  the  administra- 
tive work  of  women  than  does  the  Christian 
Church  throughout  the  world.  No  body  of  ad- 
ministrators have  been  slower  to  perceive  that 
women  in  responsible  positions  would  be  a 
strength  to  the  Church  than  have  been  the  clergy 
of  the  Church.  The  writer  of  Uncle  Tom^s 
Cabin  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  clerical  type 
of  that  day  the  argument  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment gave  an  historic  basis  for  the  enslavement 
of  races,  and  St.  Paul  had  sanctioned  slavery  in 
the  New  Testament.  The  spirit  of  Christianity 
has  raised  women  from  a  "low  estate,"  and 
women  owe  everything  to  the  results  of  Chris- 
tianity; but  the  ecclesiastical  mind  has  never 
shaken  off  the  belief  that  they  are  under  a  special 
curse  from  the  days  of  Eden,  and  that  St.  Paul's 
outlook  on  women  in  his  day  was  the  last  revela- 
tion as  to  their  future  position  in  a  jealously- 
guarded  corporation.  Which  of  us,  acquainted 
with  the  Church  history  of  our  day,  but  remem- 
bers the  General  Assembly  when  the  women 
missionaries  were  first  invited  to  stand  by  their 
fellow-workers  and  be  addressed  by  the  Moder- 
ator on  their  labours  and  sufferings  in  a  common 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT        121 

cause?  It  was  a  great  shock  to  the  fathers  and 
brethren  that  their  sex  should  not  disqualify 
them  from  standing  in  the  Assembly,  which 
would  have  more  democratic  weight  in  the 
visible  Church  on  earth  if  some  of  its  elected  lay 
members  were  women  serving  in  the  courts  of 
the  Church.  In  this  matter  and  in  many  others 
concerning  women,  the  Church  is  not  yet  tri- 
umphant over  its  prejudices  bedded  in  the  geo- 
logical structure  of  Genesis. 

In  all  periods  of  the  enfranchisement  struggle 
there  were  individual  clergy  w^ho  aided  women 
with  their  w^arm  advocac}^  and  the  helpful  direc- 
tion of  thought.  Elsie  Inglis  was  a  leader  of 
this  movement  in  its  connection  with  a  high 
Christian  ideal  of  the  citizenship  of  women. 
To  those  who  gathered  in  St.  Margaret's,  the 
church  of  Parliament  in  history,  to  commemo- 
rate all  her  works  begun  and  ended  as  a  member 
of  Christ's  Church  here  on  earth,  it  was  fitting 
that  Bishop  Gore,  who  had  so  consistently  up- 
held the  cause,  should  speak  of  her  work  as  one 
who  had  helped  to  wan  the  equality  of  women 
in  a  democratic,  self-governing  State. 

This  memoir  would  utterly  fail  to  reproduce 
a  picture  of  Dr.  Inglis  if  it  did  not  emphasise 
how  her  spirit  was  led  and  disciplined,  tempered 
and  steeled,  through  this  long  and  fiery  trial  to 
the  goal  of  a  leading  ideal.     The  contest  trained 


122  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

her  for  her  splendid  achievements  in  overcom- 
ing all  obstacles  in  ministering  to  the  sufferings 
of  nations,  "rightly  struggling  to  be  free."  Her 
friend,  Miss  Wright,  says: — 

"We  did  not  always  agree.  Many  were  the 
arguments  we  had  with  her,  but  she  was  always 
willing  to  understand  another  point  of  view  and  will- 
ing to  allow  for  difference  of  opinion.  She  was  very 
fair-minded  and  reasonable,  and  deplored  the  ex- 
cesses of  the  militant  suffragettes.  She  was  in  no 
sense  a  man-hater;  to  her  the  world  was  composed 
of  men  and  women,  and  she  thought  it  a  mistake 
to  exalt  the  one  unduly  over  the  other.  She  was 
never  embittered  by  her  struggle  for  the  position  of 
women.  She  loved  the  fight,  and  the  endeavour, 
and  to  arrive  at  any  point  just  meant  a  fresh  setting 
forward  to  another  further  goal. 

"From  her  girlhood  onward,  her  effort  was  to 
free  and  broaden  life  for  other  women,  to  make  the 
world  a  better  place  to  live  in. 

"I  had  a  letter  this  week  from  Annie  Wilson, 
Elsie's  great  friend.  She  says,  ^It  seems  to  me 
Elsie's  whole  life  was  full  of  championship  of  the 
weak,  and  she  was  so  strong  in  maintaining  wha^ 
was  right.  I  feel  sure  she  has  inspired  many.  I 
remember  once  saying  in  connection  with  some 
work  I  was  going  to  begin,  "I  wonder  if  I  shall  be 
able,"  and  Elsie  saying  in  her  bright  way,  "What 
man  has  done  man  can  do."  I  am  so  glad  that  she 
had  the  opportunity  of  showing  her  great  adminis- 


POLITICAL  ENFRANCHISEMENT        123 

trative  capacity,  and  that  her  power  is  known  and 
acknowledged.  She  Is  a  great  woman.  I  cannot 
tell  you  what  It  will  be  not  to  have  her  welcome 
to  look  forward  to  when  I  come  home.' 

"Elsie  had  In  many  respects  what  is,  perhaps 
wrongly,  called  a  man's  mind.  She  was  an  Imperial- 
ist in  the  very  best  sense,  and  had  high  Ideals  for  her 
country  and  people.  She  was  a  very  womanly 
woman,  never  affecting  mannish  ways  as  a  pose. 
If  she  seemed  a  strong-minded  woman  It  was  be- 
cause she  had  strenuous  work  to  do.  She  was  never 
'a  lone  woman.'  She  was  always  one  of  a  family, 
and  in  the  heart  of  the  family.  Elsie  always  had 
the  lovingest  appreciation  and  backing  from  her 
nearest  and  dearest,  and  that  a  wide  and  varied 
circle.  So,  also,  she  did  not  need  to  fight  for  her 
position;  it  has  been  said  of  her,  "Whenever  she 
began  to  speak  her  pleasant  well-bred  accent  and 
manner  gained  her  a  hearing."  She  was  ever  a 
fighter,  but  It  was  because  she  wanted  those  out  in 
the  cold  and  darkness  to  come  into  the  love  and 
light  which  she  herself  experienced  and  sought  after 
always  more  fully. 

"We  looked  forward  to  more  frequent  meetings 
when  working  days  were  done.  Now  she  has  gone 
forward  to  the  great  work  beyond: 

"  'Somewhere,  surely,  afar 
In  the  sounding  labour  home  vast 
Of  being,  is  practised  that  strength — 
Zealous,  beneficent,  firm.'  " 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH 

"Run  the  straight  race  through  God's  good  grace, 
Lift  up  thine  eyes  and  seek  His  face; 
Life  with  its  way  before  us  lies, 
Christ  is  the  path,  and  Christ  the  prize." 

"Prove  all  things;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good." 

Elsie  Inglis  took  up  practice  in  Edinburgh, 
and  worked  in  a  happy  partnership  with  the 
late  Dr.  Jessie  MacGregor,  until  the  latter  left 
Scotland  for  work  in  America. 

When  the  University  of  Edinburgh  admitted 
women  to  the  examination  for  degrees  in  medi- 
cine, Dr.  Inglis  graduated  M.B.,  CM.  in  1899. 
From  that  date  onwards  her  practice,  her  polit- 
ical and  suffrage  work  and  the  founding  of  the 
Hospice  in  the  High  Street  of  Edinburgh,  as  a 
nursing  home  and  maternity  centre  staffed  by 
medical  women,  occupied  a  life  which  grew  and 
strengthened  amid  so  many  and  varied  experi- 
ences. 

Her  father's  death  deprived  her  of  what  had 
been  the  very  centre  and  mainspring  of  her 
existence.     As  she  records  the  story  of  his  pass- 

124 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH    125 

ing  on,  she  says  that  she  cannot  imagine  life 
without  him,  and  that  he  had  been  so  glad  to 
see  her  begin  her  professional  career.  She  was 
not  one  to  lose  her  place  in  the  stream  of  life 
from  any  morbid  inaction  or  useless  repining. 
She  shared  the  spirit  of  the  race  from  which  she 
had  sprung,  a  reaching  forward  to  obtain  the 
prize  of  life  fulfilled  with  service,  and  she  had 
inherited  the  childlike  faith  and  confidence 
which  inspired  their  belief  in  the  Father  of 
Spirits. 

Elsie  lost  in  her  father  the  one  who  had  made 
her  the  centre  of  his  thoughts  and  of  his  most 
loving  watchfulness.  From  the  day  that  her 
home  with  him  was  left  unto  her  desolate,  she 
was  to  become  a  centre  to  many  of  her  father's 
wide  household,  and,  even  as  she  had  learnt 
from  him,  she  became  a  stay  and  support  to 
many  of  his  children's  children. 

The  two  doctors  started  practice  in  AthoU 
Place,  and  later  on  they  moved  into  8  Walker 
Street,  an  abode  which  will  always  be  associated 
with  the  name  of  Dr.  Elsie  Inglis. 

Mrs.  M'Laren  says: — 

*'My  impressions  of  their  joint  house  are  all 
pleasant  ones.  They  got  on  wonderfully  together, 
and  in  every  thing  seemed  to  appreciate  one  an- 
other's good  qualities.  They  were  very  different, 
and  had  in  many   ways   a    different   outlook.      I 


126  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

remember  Jessie  saying  once,  'Elsie  is  so  exception- 
ally generous  in  her  attitude  of  mind,  it  would  be 
difficult  not  to  get  on  with  her!'  They  both  held 
their  own  opinions  on  various  subjects  without  the 
difference  of  opinion  really  coming  between  them. 
Elsie  said  once  about  the  arrangement,  'It  has  all 
the  advantages  of  marriage  without  any  of  its  dis- 
abilities.' We  used  always  to  think  they  did  each 
other  worlds  of  good.  I  know  how  I  always  enjoyed 
a  visit  to  them  if  it  was  only  for  an  afternoon  or 
some  weeks.  There  was  such  an  air  of  freedom  in 
the  whole  house.  You  did  what  you  liked,  thought 
what  you  liked,  without  any  fear  of  criticism  or  of 
being  misunderstood. 

"I  do  not  know  much  about  her  practice,  as  medi- 
cine never  interested  me,  but  I  believe  at  one  time, 
before  the  Suffrage  work  engrossed  her  so  much, 
she  was  making  quite  a  large  income." 

Professionally  she  suffered  under  two  disabili- 
ties: the  restricted  opportunities  for  clinical 
work  in  the  days  when  she  was  studying  her  pro- 
fession, combined  with  the  constant  interruptions 
which  the  struggle  against  the  medical  obstruc- 
tionists necessitated ;  secondly,  the  various  stages 
in  the  political  fight  incident  to  obtaining  that 
wider  enfranchisement  which  aimed  at  freeing 
women  from  all  those  lesser  disabilities  which 
made  them  the  helots  of  every  recognised  profes- 
sion and  industry. 

When   in   the   Scottish   Women's    Hospitals 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH   127 

abroad,  Dr.  Inglis  rapidly  acquired  a  surgical 
skill,  under  the  tremendous  pressure  of  work, 
which  often  kept  her  for  days  at  the  operating- 
table,  which  showed  what  a  great  surgeon  she 
might  have  been,  given  equal  advantages  in  the 
days  of  her  peace  practice. 

Dr.  Inglis  lost  no  opportunity  of  enlarging  her 
knowledge.  She  was  a  lecturer  on  Gynecology 
in  the  Medical  College  for  Women  which  had 
been  started  later  than  Dr.  Jex  Blake's  school, 
and  was  on  slightly  broader  lines.  After  she 
had  started  practice  she  went  to  study  German 
clinics;  she  travelled  to  Vienna,  and  later  on 
spent  two  months  in  America  studying  the  work 
and  methods  of  the  best  surgeons  in  New  York, 
Chicago,  and  Rochester. 

She  advocated,  at  home  and  abroad,  equal 
opportunities  for  work  and  study  in  the  labora- 
tories for  both  men  and  women  students.  She 
maintained  that  the  lectures  for  women  only 
were  not  as  good  as  those  provided  for  the  men, 
and  that  the  women  did  not  get  the  opportunity 
of  thorough  laboratory  practice  before  taking 
their  exams.  She  thus  came  into  conflict  with 
the  University  authorities,  who  refused  to  ac- 
cept women  medical  students  within  the  Univer- 
sity, or  to  recognise  extra-mural  mixed  classes 
in  certain  subjects.  Step  by  step  Dr.  Inglis 
fought  for  the  students.     'With  a  great  price" 


128  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

she  might  truly  say  she  had  purchased  her  free- 
dom, and  nothing  would  turn  her  aside.  If  one 
avenue  was  closed,  try  another.  If  one  Principal 
was  adamant,  his  day  could  not  last  for  ever; 
prepare  the  way  for  his  successor.  Indomitable, 
unbeaten,  unsoured.  Dr.  Inglis,  with  the  smil- 
ing, fearless  brow,  trod  the  years  till  the  influ- 
ence of  the  ^'red  planet  Mars"  opened  to  her 
and  others  the  gate  of  opportunity.  She  had 
achieved  many  things,  and  was  far  away  from 
her  city  and  its  hard-earned  practice  when  at 
length,  in  1916,  the  University,  under  a  new 
"open-minded,  generous-hearted  Head,"  opened 
its  doors  to  women  medical  students. 

There  were  other  things,  besides  her  practice, 
which  Dr.  Inglis  subordinated  in  these  years  to 
the  political  enfranchisement  of  women.  It  has 
been  shown  in  a  previous  chapter  how  keen  were 
her  political  beliefs.  She  joined  the  Central 
Edinburgh  Women's  Liberal  Association  in  its 
earliest  organised  years.  She  acted  as  Vice- 
President  in  it  for  sixteen  years,  and  was  one 
of  its  most  active  members. 

Mr.  Gulland,  the  Liberal  Whip,  knew  the 
value  of  her  work,  and  must  have  had  reason  to 
respect  the  order  in  which  she  placed  her  polit- 
ical creed — first  the  citizenship  of  women,  then 
the  party  organisation.  He  speaks  of  her  fear- 
less partisanship  and  aloof  attitude  towards  all 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH    129 

local  political  difficulties.  An  obstacle  to  her 
was  a  thing  to  be  overcome,  not  to  be  sat  down 
before.  Any  one  in  politics  who  sees  what  is 
right,  and  cannot  understand  any  reason  why  the 
action  should  not  be  straight,  rather  than  com- 
promising, is  a  help  to  party  agents  at  rare  inter- 
vals; normally  such  minds  cause  anxiety.  Her 
secretary,  Miss  Cunningham,  says  about  her 
place  in  the  Liberal  organisation: — 

"Not  only  as  a  speaker — though  as  that  she  was 
invaluable — but  as  one  who  mixed  freely  with  all 
our  members,  with  her  sympathy,  in  fact,  her  en- 
thusiasm for  everything  affecting  the  good  of 
women,  she  w^on  respect  and  liking  on  every  side. 
It  was  not  until  she  became  convinced  that  she  could 
help  forward  the  great  cause  for  women  better  by 
being  unattached  to  any  party  organisation  that  she 
severed  her  connection  with  the  Liberal  Party. 
Regretted  as  that  severance  was  by  all,  we  under- 
stood her  point  of  view  so  well  that  we  recognised 
there  was  no  other  course  open  to  her.  Her  firm 
grasp  of  and  clear  insight  into  matters  political  made 
her  a  most  valued  colleague,  especially  in  times 
of  difficulty,  when  her  advice  was  always  to  be  relied 
upon." 

In  1901  she  was  a  member  of  the  Women's 
Liberal  League,  a  branch  of  the  W.L.A.  which 
split  off  at  the  time  of  the  Boer  War,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  ^'Little  Englanders."     Dr.  Inglis  was 


ISO  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

on  its  first  committee,  and  lent  her  drawing- 
room  for  meetings,  addressing  other  meetings  on 
the  Imperialist  doctrines  born  in  that  war. 
When  that  phase  of  politics  ended,  the  League 
became  an  educational  body  and  worked  on 
social  and  factory  legislation. 

Among  her  other  enterprises  was  the  found- 
ing of  the  Muir  Hall  of  Residence  for  Women 
Students  at  the  University.  Many  came  up  from 
the  country,  and,  like  herself  in  former  days  in 
Glasgow,  had  to  find  suitable,  and  in  many  cases 
uncomfortable,  lodgings. 

Principal  Muir's  old  Indian  friendship  with 
Mr.  Inglis  had  been  most  helpful  in  former 
years,  and  now  Lady  Muir  and  other  friends 
of  the  women  students  started  a  Residence  in 
George  Square  for  them,  and  Miss  Robertson 
was  appointed  its  first  warden.  Dr.  Inglis  was 
Hon.  Secretary  to  the  Muir  Hall  till  she  died, 
and  from  its  start  was  a  moving  spirit  in  all  that 
stood  for  the  comfort  of  the  students.  She  at- 
tended them  when  they  were  ill,  and  was  always 
ready  to  help  them  in  their  difficulties  with  her 
keen,  understanding  advice.  The  child  of  her 
love,  amid  all  other  works,  was  her  Maternity 
Hospice.  Of  this  work  Miss  Mair,  who  was 
indeed  "a  nursing  mother"  to  so  many  of  the 
undertakings  of  women  in  the  healing  profes- 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH   181 

sion,  writes  of  Dr.  Inglis'  feeling  with  perfect 

understanding: — 

"To  Dr.  Inglis'  clear  vision,  even  in  her  early 
years  of  student  life,  there  shone  through  the  mists 
of  opposition  and  misunderstandings  a  future  scene 
in  which  a  welcome  recognition  would  be  made  of 
women's  services  for  humanity,  and  with  a  strong, 
glad  heart  she  joined  with  other  pioneers  in  tread- 
ing 'the  stony  way'  that  leads  to  most  reforms.  Once 
landed  on  the  firm  rock  of  professional  recognition, 
Dr.  Inglis  set  about  the  philanthropic  task  of  bring- 
ing succour  and  helpful  advice  to  mothers  and  young 
babies  and  expectant  mothers  in  the  crowded  homes 
in  and  about  the  High  Street.  There,  with  the  help 
of  a  few  friends,  she  founded  the  useful  little  Hos- 
pice that  we  trust  now  to  see  so  developed  and  ex- 
tended by  an  appreciative  public,  that  it  will  merit 
the  honoured  name  'The  Dr.  Elsie  Inglis  Memorial 
Hospice.' 

"This  little  Hospice  lay  very  near  the  heart  of  its 
founder — she  loved  it — and  with  her  always  sensi- 
tive realisation  of  the  needs  of  the  future,  she  was 
convinced  that  this  was  a  bit  of  work  on  the  right 
lines  for  recognition  in  years  to  come.  Some  of  us 
can  recall  the  kindling  eye,  the  inspiring  tones,  that 
gave  animation  to  her  whole  being  when  talking  of 
her  loved  Hospice.  She  saw  in  it  a  possible  future 
that  might  effect  much,  not  only  for  its  patients,  but 
for  generations  of  medical  women." 

With  Dr.  Elsie  one  idea  always  started  an- 


132  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

other,  and  "a  felt  want"  in  any  department  of 
life  always  meant  an  instantly  conceived  scheme 
of  supplying  the  need.  Those  who  "came  after" 
sometimes  felt  a  breathless  wonder  how  ways 
and  means  could  be  found  to  establish  and  settle 
the  new  idea  which  had  been  evolved  from  the 
fertile  brain.  The  Hospice  grew  out  of  the 
establishment  of  a  nursing  home  for  working 
women,  where  they  could  be  cared  for  near  their 
own  homes.  Through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Bar- 
bour, a  house  was  secured  at  a  nominal  rent  in 
George  Square,  and  opened  in  1901.  That 
sphere  of  usefulness  could  be  extended  if  a 
maternity  home  could  be  started  in  a  poorer  dis- 
trict. Thus  the  Hospice  in  the  High  Street  was 
opened  in  1904.  Dr.  Inglis  devoted  herself  to 
the  work.  An  operating  theatre  and  eight  beds 
were  provided.  The  midwifery  department 
grew  so  rapidly  that  after  a  few  years  the  Hos- 
pice became  a  centre,  one  of  five  in  Scotland, 
for  training  nurses  for  the  C.M.B.  examination. 
Dr.  Inglis  looked  forward  to  a  greater  future 
for  it  in  infant  welfare  work,  and  she  always  jus- 
tified the  device  of  the  site  as  being  close  to  where 
the  people  lived,  and  in  air  to  which  they  were 
accustomed.  Trained  district  nurses  visited  the 
people  in  their  own  homes,  and  in  1910  there 
were  more  cases  than  nurses  to  overtake  them. 
In  that  year  the  Hospice  was  amalgamated  with 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH   133 

Bruntsfield  Hospital;  medical,  surgical,  and 
gynecological  cases  were  treated  there,  while  the 
Hospice  was  devoted  entirely  to  maternity  and 
infant  welfare  cases. 

Dr.  Inglis'  'Vision"  was  nearly  accomplished 
when  she  had  a  small  ward  of  five  beds  for  mal- 
nutrition cases,  a  baby  clinic,  a  milk  depot, 
health  centres,  and  the  knowledge  that  the  Hos- 
pice has  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  mater- 
nity centre  run  by  women  in  Scotland.  This  af- 
fords women  students  opportunities  denied  to 
them  in  other  maternity  hospitals. 

A  probationer  in  that  Hospice  says: — 

*'Dr.  Inglis'  idea  was  that  everything,  as  far  as 
possible,  should  be  made  subservient  to  the  comfort 
of  the  patients.  This  was  always  considered  when 
planning  the  routine.  She  disapproved  of  the  sys- 
tem prevalent  in  so  many  hospitals  of  rousing  the 
patients  out  of  sleep  in  the  small  hours  of  the  morn- 
ing in  order  to  get  through  the  work  of  the  wards. 
She  would  not  have  them  awakened  before  6  a.m., 
and  she  instituted  a  cup  of  tea  before  anything  else 
was  done.  To  her  nurses  she  was  very  just  and  ap- 
preciative of  good  work,  and,  if  complaints  were 
made  against  any  one,  the  wrongdoing  had  to  be 
absolutely  proved  before  she  would  take  action.  She 
also  insisted  on  the  nurses  having  adequate  time  off, 
and  that  it  should  not  be  infringed  upon." 

These,  in  outline,  are  the  interests  which  filled 


1S4  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

the  years  after  Dr.  Elsie  began  her  practice.  Of 
her  work  among  the  people  living  round  her 
Hospice,  it  is  best  told  in  the  words  of  those  who 
watched  for  her  coming,  and  blessed  the  sound 
of  her  feet  on  their  thresholds.  Freely  she  gave 
them  of  her  best,  and  freely  they  gave  her  the 
love  and  confidence  of  their  loyal  hearts. 

Mrs.  B.  had  been  Dr.  Inglis'  patient  for 
twenty  years,  and  she  had  also  attended  her 
mother  and  grandmother.  Of  several  children 
one  was  called  Elsie  Maud  Inglis,  and  the  child 
was  christened  in  the  Dean  Church  by  Dr.  Wil- 
liamson, who  had  known  Dr.  Inglis  as  a  child  in 
India.  The  whole  family  seem  to  have  been 
her  charge,  for  when  Mrs.  B.'s  husband  returned 
from  the  South  African  War,  Dr.  Inglis  fought 
the  War  Office  for  nine  months  to  secure  him  a 
set  of  teeth,  and,  needless  to  say,  after  taking  all 
the  trouble  entailed  by  a  War  Office  correspond- 
ence, she  was  successful.  A  son  fought  in  the 
present  war,  and  when  Dr.  Inglis  saw  the  death 
of  a  Private  B.,  she  sent  a  telegram  to  the  War 
Office  to  make  sure  it  was  not  the  son  of  Mrs. 
B.  She  would  never  take  any  fees  from  this 
family.  On  one  occasion  Mr.  B.  gave  her  some 
feathers  he  had  brought  home  from  Africa.  She 
had  them  put  in  a  new  hat  she  had  got  for  a 
wedding,  and  came  round  before  she  went  to  the 
festival  to  show  them  to  the  donor.     Her  cheery 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH  135 

ways  ''helped  them  all,"  and  when  a  child  of 
the  family  broke  its  leg,  and  was  not  mending 
all  round  in  the  Infirmary,  Dr.  Inglis  was  asked 
to  go  and  see  her,  and  the  child  from  then  ''went 
forrit." 

In  another  family  there  was  some  stomach 
weakness,  and  three  infants  died.  Dr,  Inglis 
tried  hard  to  save  the  life  of  the  third,  a  little 
boy,  who  was  evidently  getting  no  nourishment. 
So  anxious  was  she,  that  she  asked  a  sister  who 
had  recently  had  a  baby,  to  try  if  she  could 
nurse  the  child.  This  was  done,  the  foster 
mother  going  every  day  to  the  house,  but  they 
could  not  save  the  infant.  When  the  next  one 
arrived.  Dr.  Inglis  was  so  determined  the  child 
should  live,  she  came  every  day,  whatever  were 
her  engagements,  to  sterilise  the  milk.  The 
child  throve  under  her  care,  and  grew  up  in 
health. 

Another  of  these  patients  of  her  care  "could 
not  control  her  feelings"  when  speaking  of  the 
good  physician.  It  was  evident  the  family  had 
lost  their  best  friend.  The  husband  spoke  moat 
warmly  of  Dr.  Inglis'  kindness  to  them.  She 
would  come  round,  after  she  had  finished  her 
other  work  at  night,  to  bath  the  baby.  When 
another  child  was  ill,  she  told  the  mother  not  to 
open  the  door  even  if  the  King  himself  wished  to 
come  in.  The  husband  said  she  was  so  bright  one 


136  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

felt  the  better  for  her  visit,  ^'though  her  orders 
had  to  be  obeyed  and  no  mistake,  and  she  would 
tell  you  off  at  once  if  you  did  not  carry  them 
out.''  If  they  offered  payment,  she  would  say, 
*^Now,  go  and  buy  a  nice  chop  for  yourself." 

Another  family  had  this  story.  Mr.  G. : 
'^That  woman  has  done  more  for  the  folk  living 
between  Morrison  Street  and  the  High  Street 
than  all  the  ministers  in  Edinburgh  and  Scot- 
land itself  ever  did  for  any  one.  She  would 
never  give  in  to  difficulties.  She  gave  her  house, 
her  property,  her  practice,  her  money  to  help 
others."  Mrs.  G.  fell  ill  after  the  birth  of  one 
of  her  children.  Dr.  Elsie  came  in  one  night, 
made  her  a  cup  of  tea  and  some  toast,  and,  as  she 
failed  to  get  well,  she  raised  money  to  keep  her 
in  a  sanatorium  for  six  months.  After  she  had 
been  there  one  child,  in  charge  of  a  friend,  fell 
ill,  and  finally  died.  Dr.  Inglis  doing  all  she 
could  to  spare  the  absent  mother  and  save  the 
child.     When  it  died,  she  wrote: — 

*^My  dear  Mrs.  G., — You  will  have  got  the 
news  by  now.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  sorry  I  am  for 
you,  my  dear.  But  you  will  believe,  won't  you, 
that  we  all  did  everything  we  could  for  your  dear 
little  boy.  Mrs.  E.  was  simply  goodness  itself. 
Dr.  H.  and  I  saw  him  three  times  a  day  between 
us,  and  yesterday  we  saw  him  four  times.  When 
I  sent  you  the  card  I  hoped  the  high  temperature  was 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH   137 

due  to  his  teeth,  because  his  pulse  seemed  good. 
However,  later.  Dr.  H.  telephoned  that  she  was 
afraid  that  his  pulse  was  flagging,  and  he  died  sud- 
denly about  one.  Mr.  G.  has  just  been  here;  you 
must  get  well,  my  dear,  for  his  sake,  and  for  the 
sake  of  all  the  other  little  children.  Poor  little 
Johnnie  has  had  a  great  many  troubles  in  his  little 
life,  has  he  not?  But  he  is  over  them  all  now,  dear 
little  man.  And  the  God  in  whose  safe  keeping  he 
is,  comfort  you,  dear  Mrs.  G. — Ever  your  sincere 
friend,  "Elsie  Maud  Inglis." 

The  caretaker  of  the  dispensary  in  St.  Cuth- 
bert's  Mission  in  Morrison  Street  speaks  of  Dr. 
Inglis  as  the  true  friend  of  all  who  needed  her. 
She  gave  an  hour  three  mornings  in  the  week, 
and  if  she  could  not  overtake  all  the  cases  in  the 
time,  she  would  occasionally  come  back  later  in 
the  day. 

Another  of  her  patients  was  the  mother  of 
twelve  children;  six  of  them  were  ^'brought 
home"  by  Dr.  Inglis.  She  was  a  friend  to  them 
all,  and  never  minded  what  trouble  she  took. 
If  they  did  not  send  for  her,  wishing  to  spare 
her,  she  scolded  them  for  thinking  of  herself 
and  not  of  their  need  for  her  services.  All  the 
children  loved  her,  and  they  would  watch  from 
the  window  on  her  dispensary  days  for  her,  and 
she  would  wave  to  them  across  the  street.  She 
would  often  stop  them  in  the  street  to  ask  after 


138  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

their  mother,  and  even  after  she  had  been  to 
Serbia  and  returned  to  Edinburgh,  she  remem- 
bered about  them  and  their  home  affairs.  She 
always  made  them  understand  that  her  orders 
must  be  carried  out.  Once  Mrs.  C.  was  very 
ill,  and  Dr.  Inglis  came  to  attend  her.  The  eld- 
est girl  was  washing  the  floor,  and  Dr.  Inglis 
told  her  to  go  for  some  medicine.  The  girl  con- 
tinued to  finish  the  work  she  was  at.  ^'Child," 
said  Dr.  Inglis,  "don't  you  know  that  when  I 
say  a  thing  I  mean  it?"  Another  time  she  had 
told  Mrs.  C.  to  remain  in  her  bed  till  she  came. 
Household  cares  were  pressing,  and  Mrs.  C. 
rose  to  wash  the  dishes.  Dr.  Inglis  suddenly 
appeared  at  the  door.  "What  did  I  tell  you? 
Do  not  touch  another  dish."  And  she  herself 
helped  Mrs.  C.  back  to  bed.  Later  on  two 
of  the  children  got  scarlet  fever,  and  Dr.  Inglis 
told  the  mother  she  was  proud  of  her,  as, 
through  her  care,  the  infection  did  not  spread 
in  the  family  or  outside  it. 

The  people  in  Morrison  Street  showed  their 
gratitude  by  collecting  a  little  sum  of  money 
to  buy  an  electric  lamp  to  light  their  doctor 
friend  up  the  dark  staircase  of  the  house.  These 
were  the  true  mourners  who  stood  round  St. 
Giles'  with  the  bairns  she  had  "brought  home"  on 
the  day  when  her  earthly  presence  passed  from 
their  sight.     These  were  they  who  had  fitted  her 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH    139 

for  her  strenuous  enterprises  in  the  day  when 
the  battle  was  set  in  array,  and  these  were  the 
people  who  knew  her  best,  and  never  doubted 
that  when  called  from  their  midst  she  would 
go  forth  strong  in  that  spirit  which  is  given  to 
the  weak  things  of  the  earth,  and  that  it  would 
be  her  part  to  strengthen  the  peoples  that  had 
no  might. 

The  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor  had  a  dis- 
pensary of  St.  Anne,  and  Dr.  Elsie  had  it  in  her 
charge  from  1903  to  1913,  and  the  Sister  Supe- 
rior speaks  of  the  affection  of  the  people  and  the 
good  work  done  among  them. 

"How  often,"  writes  one  in  charge  of  the  servant 
department  of  the  Y.W.C.A.,  "her  deliberate  tread 
has  brought  confidence  to  me  when  getting  heartless 
over  some  of  these  poor  creatures  who  would  not 
rouse  themselves,  judging  the  world  was  against 
them.  Many  a  time  the  patient  fighting  with  cir- 
cumstances needed  a  sisterly  word  of  cheer  which 
Dr.  Inglis  supplied,  and  sent  the  individual  heart- 
ened and  refreshed.  The  expression  on  her  face, 
/  mean  business,  had  a  wonderful  uplift,  while  her 
acuteness  in  exactly  describing  the  symptoms  to  those 
who  were  in  constant  contact  gave  a  confidence 
which  made  her  a  power  amongst  us." 

A  patient  has  allowed  some  of  her  written 
prescriptions  to  be  quoted.  They  were  not  of 
a  kind  to  be  made  up  by  a  chemist: — 


140  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

**I  want  you  never  to  miss  or  delay  meals.  I 
want  you  to  go  to  bed  at  a  reasonable  time  and  go 
to  sleep  early.  I  want  you  to  do  your  work  regu- 
larly, and  to  take  an  interest  in  outside  things — 
such  as  your  church  and  suffrage.'' 

"We  should  not  let  these  Things  (with  a  capital 
T)  affect  us  so  much.  Our  cause  is  too  righteous 
for  it  to  be  really  affected  by  them — if  we  don't 
weaken." 

"My  dear,  the  potter's  wheel  isn't  a  pleasant 
instrument." 

"Go  home  and  say  your  prayers." 

"Realise  what  you  are,  a  free  born  child  of  the 
Universe.     Perfection  your  Polar  Star." 

These  stories  of  her  healing  of  mind  and  body 
might  be  endlessly  multiplied.  Sorrow  and  dis- 
ease are  much  the  same  whether  they  come  to 
the  rich  or  the  poor,  and  poverty  is  not  always 
the  worst  trial  of  many  a  sad  tale.  Dr.  Elsie's 
power  of  sympathy  and  understanding  was  as 
much  called  upon  in  her  paying  practice  as 
among  the  very  poor.  She  made  no  distinction 
in  what  she  gave;  her  friendship  was  as  ready 
as  her  trained  skill.  There  was  one  patient 
whose  sufferings  were  largely  due  to  her  own 
lack  of  will  power.  Elsie,  after  prescribing, 
bent  down  and  kissed  hen  It  awoke  in  the 
individual   the   sense  that  she  was   not  "alto- 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH   141 

gether  bad,"  and  from  that  day  forward  there 
was  a  newness  of  life. 

From  what  sources  of  inner  strength  did  she 
increasingly  minister  in  that  sphere  in  which  she 
moved?  ''Thy  touch  has  still  its  ancient  power/' 
and  no  one  who  knew  this  unresting,  unhasting, 
well-balanced  life,  but  felt  it  had  drawn  its 
spiritual  strength  from  the  deep  wells  of  Salva- 
tion. 

In  these  years  the  kindred  points  of  heaven 
and  home  were  always  in  the  background  of  her 
life.  Her  sisters'  homes  were  near  her  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  when  her  brother  Ernest  died  in 
India,  in  1910,  his  widow  and  her  three  daugh- 
ters came  back  to  her  house.  Her  friendship 
and  understanding  of  all  the  large  circle  that 
called  her  aunt  was  a  very  beautiful  tie.  The 
elder  ones  were  near  enough  to  her  own  age 
to  be  companions  to  her  from  her  girlhood. 
Miss  Simson  says  that  she  was  more  like  an  elder 
sister  to  them  when  she  stayed  with  the  family 
on  their  arrival  from  Tasmania.  ^'The  next 
thing  I  remember  about  her  was  when  she  went 
to  school  in  Paris,  she  promised  to  bring  us  home 
Paris  dolls.  She  asked  us  how  we  wanted  them 
dressed,  and  when  she  returned  we  each  received 
a  beautiful  one  dressed  in  the  manner  chosen. 
Aunt  Elsie  was  always  most  careful  in  the  choice 
of  presents  for  each  individual.     One  always 


142  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

felt  that  she  had  thought  of  and  got  something 
that  she  knew  you  wanted.  While  on  her  way 
to  Russia  she  sent  me  a  cheque  because  she  had 
not  been  able  to  see  anything  while  at  home. 
She  wrote,  ^'  ^This  is  to  spend  on  something 
frivolous  that  you  want,  and  not  on  stockings 
or  anything  like  that'  " 

"It  is  not  her  great  gifts  that  I  remember 
now,"  says  another  of  that  young  circle,  "it  is 
that  she  was  always  such  a  darling." 

These  nieces  were  often  the  companions  of 
Dr.  Elsie's  holidays.  She  had  her  own  ideas  as 
to  how  these  should  be  spent.  She  always  had 
September  as  her  month  of  recreation.  She 
used  to  go  away,  first  of  all,  for  a  fortnight  quite 
alone  to  some  out-of-the-way  place,  when  not 
even  her  letters  were  sent  after  her.  She  would 
book  to  a  station,  get  out,  and  bicycle  round  the 
neighbourhood  till  she  found  a  place  she  liked. 
She  wanted  scenery  and  housing  accommoda- 
tion according  to  her  mind.  Her  first  require- 
ment was  hot  water  for  "baths."  If  that  was 
found  in  abundance  she  was  suited;  if  it  could 
not  be  requisitioned,  she  went  elsewhere.  Her 
paintbox  went  with  her,  and  when  she  returned 
to  rejoin  or  fetch  away  her  family  she  brought 
many  impressions  of  what  she  had  seen.  The 
holidays  were  restful  because  always  well 
planned.     She  loved  enjoyment  and  happiness, 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH   143 

and  she  sought  them  in  the  spirit  of  real  relaxa- 
tion and  recreation.  If  weather  or  circum- 
stances turned  out  adverse,  she  was  amused  in 
finding  some  way  out,  and  if  nothing  else  could 
be  done  she  had  a  power  of  seeing  the  ludicrous 
under  all  conditions,  which  in  itself  turned  the 
rain-clouds  of  life  into  bursts  of  sunlight. 

Mrs.  Inglis  gives  a  happy  picture  of  the  life 
in  8  Walker  Street,  when  she  was  the  guest  of 
Dr.  Inglis.  Her  love  for  the  three  nieces,  the 
one  in  particular  who  bore  her  name,  and  in 
whose  medical  education  she  deeply  interested 
herself,  was  great. 

She  used  to  return  from  a  long  day's  work, 
often  late,  but  with  a  mind  at  leisure  from  itself 
for  the  talk  of  the  young  people.  However  late 
she  was,  a  hot  bath  preluded  a  dinner-party  full 
of  fun  and  laughter,  the  account  of  all  the  day's 
doings,  and  then  a  game  of  bridge  or  some  other 
amusement.  Often  she  would  be  anxious  over 
some  case,  but  she  used  to  say,  "I  have  done  all  I 
know,  I  can  only  sleep  over  it,"  and  to  bed  and 
to  sleep  she  went,  always  using  her  will-power 
to  do  what  was  best  in  the  situation.  Those  who 
were  with  her  in  the  "retreats"  in  Serbia  or 
Russia  saw  the  same  quality  of  self-command. 
If  transport  broke  down,  then  the  interval  had 
better  be  used  for  rest,  in  the  best  fashion  in 
which  it  could  be  obtained. 


IM  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

Her  Sundays,  as  far  as  her  profession  per- 
mitted, were  days  of  rest  and  social  intercourse 
with  her  family  and  friends.  After  evening 
church  she  went  always  to  supper  in  the  Simson 
family,  often  detained  late  by  pacings  to  and 
fro  with  her  friends,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Wallace 
Williamson,  engaged  in  some  outpouring  of  the 
vital  interests  which  were  absorbing  her.  One 
of  the  members  of  her  household  says : — 

"We  all  used  to  look  forward  to  hearing  all  her 
doings  in  the  past  week,  and  of  all  that  lay  before 
her  in  the  next.  Sunday  evening  felt  quite  wrong 
and  flat  when  she  was  called  out  to  a  case  and  could 
not  come  to  us.  It  was  the  same  with  our  summer 
holidays.  Her  visit  in  September  was  the  best  bit 
of  the  holidays  to  us.  She  laid  herself  out  to  be 
with  us  in  our  bathing  and  golfing  and  picnics." 

The  house  was  "well  run."  Those  who  know 
what  is  the  highest  meaning  of  service,  have  al- 
ways good  servants,  and  Dr.  Elsie  had  a  faith- 
ful household.  Fler  cooks  were  all  engaged 
under  one  stipulation,  "Hot  water  for  any  num- 
ber of  baths  at  any  time  of  the  day  or  night," 
and  the  hot  water  never  failed  under  the  most 
exacting  conditions.  Her  guests  were  made  very 
comfortable,  and  there  was  only  one  rigid  rule 
in  the  house.  However  late  she  came  down- 
stairs after  any  night-work,  there  was  always 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH   145 

family  prayers  before  breakfast.  The  book  she 
used  was  Euchologion,  and  when  in  Russia 
asked  that  a  copy  should  be  sent  her.  Her  con- 
sulting-room was  lined  with  book-shelves  con- 
taining all  her  father's  books,  and  of  these  she 
never  lost  sight.  Any  guest  might  borrow  any- 
thing else  in  her  house  and  forget  to  return  it, 
but  if  ever  one  of  those  books  were  borrowed, 
it  had  to  be  returned,  for  the  quest  after  it  was 
pertinacious.  In  her  dress  she  became  increas- 
ingly particular,  but  only  as  the  adornment,  not 
of  herself,  but  of  the  cause  of  women  as  citizens 
or  as  doctors.  When  a  uniform  became  part  of 
her  equipment  for  work,  she  must  have  wel- 
comed it  with  great  enthusiasm.  It  is  in  the 
hodden  grey  with  the  tartan  shoulder  straps,  and 
the  thistles  of  Scotland  that  she  will  be  clothed 
upon,  in  the  memory  of  most  of  those  who  recall 
her  presence. 

It  is  difficult  to  write  of  the  things  that  be- 
long to  the  Spirit,  and  Dr.  Elsie's  own  reserve 
on  these  matters  was  not  often  broken.  She 
had  been  reared  in  a  God-fearing  household, 
and  surrounded  from  her  earliest  years  with  the 
atmosphere  of  an  intensely  devout  home.  That 
she  tried  all  things,  and  approved  them  to  her 
own  conscience,  was  natural  to  her  character. 
Certain  doctrines  and  formulas  found  no  accept- 
ance with  her.  Man  was  created  in  God's  image. 


146  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

and  the  Almighty  did  not  desire  that  His  crea- 
tures should  despise  or  underrate  the  work  of 
His  Hand.  The  attitude  of  regarding  the 
world  as  a  desert,  and  human  beings  as  miser- 
able sinners  incapable  of  rendering  the  highest 
service,  never  commended  itself  to  her  emi- 
nently just  mind.  Such  difficulties  of  belief  as 
she  may  have  experienced  in  early  years  lay  in 
the  relations  of  the  created  to  the  Creator  of  all 
that  is  divine  in  man.  Till  she  had  convinced 
herself  that  a  reasonable  service  was  asked  for 
and  would  be  accepted,  her  mind  was  not  com- 
pletely at  rest.  In  her  correspondence  with  her 
father,  both  in  Glasgow  and  London,  her  in- 
terest was  always  living  and  vital  in  the  things 
which  belonged  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
within.  She  wandered  from  church  to  church 
in  both  places.  Oblivious  of  all  distinctions  she 
would  take  her  prayer  book  and  go  for  "music" 
to  the  Episcopal  Church,  or  attend  the  unde- 
nominational meetings  connected  with  the 
Y.W.C.A.  Often  she  found  herself  most  in- 
terested in  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hunter, 
who  subsequently  left  Glasgow  for  London. 
There  are  many  shrewd  comments  on  other  min- 
isters, on  the  "Declaratory  Acts,"  then  agitating 
the  Free  Church.  She  thought  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  should  either  be  accepted  or  re- 
jected, and  that  the  position  was  made  no  sim- 


THE  PROFESSION  AND  THE  FAITH   147 

pier  by  ^declarations.''  In  London  she  attended 
the  English  Church  almost  exclusively,  listen- 
ing to  the  many  remarkable  teachers  who  in  the 
Nineties  occupied  the  pulpits  of  the  Anglican 
Church.  It  was  not  till  after  her  father's  death 
that  she  came  to  rest  entirely  in  the  ministry  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  found  in  the  teach- 
ing and  friendship  of  Dr.  Wallace  Williamson 
that  which  gave  her  the  vital  faith  which  in- 
spired her  life  and  work,  and  carried  her  at 
last  triumphantly  through  the  swellings  of  Jor- 
dan. 

St.  Giles'  lay  in  the  centre  of  her  healing  mis- 
sion, and  her  alert  active  figure  was  a  familiar 
sight,  as  the  little  congregation  gathered  for  the 
daily  service.  When  the  kirk  skailed  in  the 
fading  light  of  the  short  days,  the  westering  sun 
on  the  windows  would  often  fall  on  the  fair  hair 
and  bright  face  of  her  whose  day  had  been  spent 
in  ministering  work.  On  these  occasions  she 
never  talked  of  her  work.  If  she  was  joined  by 
a  friend,  Dr.  Elsie  waited  to  see  what  was  the 
pressing  thought  in  the  mind  of  her  companion, 
and  into  that  she  at  once  poured  her  whole  sym- 
pathy. Few  ever  walked  west  with  her  to  her 
home  without  feeling  in  an  atmosphere  of  high 
and  chivalrous  enterprise.  Thus  in  an  ordered 
round  passed  the  days  and  years,  drawing  ever 
nearer  to  the  unknown  destiny,  when  that  which 


148  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

was  to  try  the  reins  and  the  hearts  of  many  na- 
tions was  to  come  upon  the  world.  When  that 
storm  burst,  Elsie  Inglis  was  among  those  whose 
lamp  was  burning,  and  whose  heart  was  stead- 
fast and  prepared  for  the  things  which  were 
coming  on  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH   WOMEN 

"God  the  all-terrible  King,  Who  ordainest 

Great  winds  Thy  clarion,  the  lightnings  Thy  sword, 
Show  forth  Thy  pity  on  high  where  Thou  reignest, 
Give  to  us  peace  in  our  time,  O  Lord. 

God  the  All-wise,  by  the  fire  of  Thy  chastening 
Earth  shall  to  freedom  and  truth  be  restored, 

Through  the  thick  darkness  Thy  kingdom  is  hastening, 
Thou  wilt  give  peace  in  Thy  time,  O  Lord." 

The  year  of  the  war  coincided  with  that  period 
in  the  life  of  Dr.  Inglis  when  she  was  fully 
qualified  for  the  great  part  she  was  to  play 
among  the  armies  of  the  Allied  nations. 

It  is  now  admitted  that  this  country  was  un- 
prepared for  war,  and  incredulous  as  to  the 
German  menace.  The  services  of  women  have 
now  attained  so  high  a  value  in  the  State  that  it 
is  difficult  to  recast  their  condition  in  1914. 

In  politics  there  had  been  a  succession  of  ef- 
forts to  obtain  their  enfranchisement.  Each  ef- 
fort had  been  marked  by  a  stronger  manifesta- 
tion in  their  favour  in  the  country,  and  the  grow- 
ing force  of  the  movement,  coupled  with  the 

149 


150  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

unrest  in  Ireland,  had  kept  all  political  organ- 
isations in  a  high  state  of  tension. 

It  has  been  shown  how  fully  organised  were 
all  the  Women  Suffrage  societies.  Commit- 
tees, organisers,  adherents,  and  speakers  were 
at  work,  and  in  the  highest  state  of  efficiency. 
Women  linked  by  a  common  cause  had  learnt 
how  to  work  together.  The  best  brains  in  their 
midst  were  put  at  the  service  of  the  Suffrage, 
and  they  had  watched  in  the  political  arena 
where  to  expect  support,  and  who  could  be 
trusted  among  the  leaders  of  all  parties.  No 
shrewder  or  more  experienced  body  of  politi- 
cians were  to  be  found  in  the  country  than  those 
women  drawn  from  all  classes,  in  all  social,  pro- 
fessional, and  industrial  spheres,  who  acknowl- 
edged Mrs.  Fawcett  as  their  leader,  and  trusted 
no  one  party,  sect,  or  politician  in  the  year  1914. 

When  the  war  caused  a  truce  to  be  pro- 
nounced in  all  questions  of  acute  political  dif- 
ference, the  unenfranchised  people  realised  that 
this  might  mean  the  failure  of  their  hopes  for 
an  indefinite  time.  They  never  foresaw  that, 
for  the  second  time  within  a  century,  emancipa- 
tion was  to  be  bought  by  the  life  blood  of  a  gen- 
eration. 

The  truce  made  no  difference  to  any  section 
of  the  Suffrage  party.  It  was  accepted  by  the 
whole    people.     War    found    both    men    and 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     151 

women  unprepared,  but  the  path  of  glory  was 
clear  for  the  men.  A  great  army  must  be 
formed  in  defence  of  national  liberty.  The 
army  was  mobilised.  It  would  have  been  well 
had  the  strength  of  the  women  been  mobilised 
in  the  same  hour.  Their  long  claim  for  the 
rights  of  citizenship  made  them  keenly  alive  and 
responsive  to  the  call  of  national  service. 

War  and  its  consequences  had  for  many  years 
been  uppermost  in  their  thoughts.  In  the  strug- 
gle for  emancipation,  the  great  argument  they 
have  had  to  face  among  the  rapidly  decreasing 
anti-party,  was  the  one  that  women  could  take 
no  part  in  war,  and,  as  all  Government  rested 
ultimately  on  brute  force,  women  could  not  fight, 
and  therefore  must  not  vote. 

In  countering  this  outlook,  women  had 
watched  what  war  meant  all  over  the  w^orld, 
wherever  it  took  place.  With  the  use  of  scien- 
tific weapons  of  destruction,  with  the  develop- 
ment of  scientific  methods  of  healing,  with  all 
that  went  to  the  maintenance  of  armies  in  the 
field,  and  the  support  of  populations  at  home, 
women  had  some  vision  in  what  manner  they 
would  be  needed  if  war  ever  came  to  this  coun- 
try. 

The  misfortune  of  such  a  controversy  as  that 
of  the  ^^Rights  of  Women"  is  that  it  necessarily 
means  the  opposition  has  to  prove  a  negative 


162  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

proposition — a  most  sterilising  process.  Po- 
litical parties  were  so  anxious  to  prove  that 
women  were  incapable  of  citizenship,  that  the 
whole  community  got  into  a  pernicious  habit  of 
mind.  Women  were  underrated  in  every 
sphere  of  industry  or  scientific  knowledge. 
Their  sense  of  incapacity  and  irresponsibility 
was  encouraged,  and  when  they  turned  militant 
under  such  treatment,  they  were  only  voted  a 
nuisance  which  it  was  impossible  to  totally  ex- 
terminate. 

Those  who  watched  the  gathering  war  clouds, 
and  the  decline  of  their  Parliamentary  hopes, 
did  not  realise  that,  in  the  overruling  providence 
of  God,  the  devastating  war  among  nations  was 
to  open  a  new  era  for  women.  They  were  no 
longer  to  be  held  cheap,  as  irresponsibles — mere 
clogs  on  the  machinery  of  the  State.  They  were 
to  be  called  on  to  take  the  place  of  men  who 
were  dying  by  the  thousand  for  their  homes, 
fighting  against  the  doctrine  that  military  force 
is  the  only  true  Government  in  a  Christian 
world. 

After  mobilisation,  military  authorities  had  to 
make  provision  for  the  wounded.  We  can  re- 
member the  early  sensation  of  seeing  buildings 
raised  for  other  purposes  taken  over  for  hos- 
pitals. Since  the  Crimea,  women  as  nurses  at 
the  base  were  institutions  understood  of  all  men. 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     153 

In  the  vast  camps  which  sprang  up  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war,  women  modestly  thought 
they  might  be  usefully  employed  as  cooks.  The 
idea  shocked  the  War  Office  till  it  rocked  to  its 
foundations.  A  few  adventurous  women  started 
laundries  for  officers,  and  others  for  the  men. 
They  did  it  on  their  own,  and  in  peril  of  their 
beneficent  soap  suds,  being  ordered  to  a  region 
where  they  would  be  out  of  sight,  and  out  of 
any  seasonable  service,  to  the  vermin-ridden 
camps. 

The  Suffrage  organisations,  staffed  and 
equipped  with  able  practical  women  Jacks  of 
all  trades,  in  their  midst,  put  themselves  at  the 
call  of  national  service,  but  were  headed  back 
from  all  enterprises.  It  had  been  ordained  that 
women  could  not  fight,  and  therefore  they  were 
of  no  use  in  war  time.  A  few  persisted  in  try- 
ing to  find  openings  for  service.  Among  these 
were  Dr.  Inglis.  It  is  one  thing  to  offer  to  be 
useful  without  any  particular  qualification;  it  is 
another  to  have  professional  knowledge  to  give, 
and  the  medical  women  were  strong  in  the  con- 
viction that  they  had  their  hard-won  science  and 
skill  to  offer. 

Those  who  have  read  the  preceding  pages  will 
realise  that  Dr.  Inglis  carried  into  this  offer  a 
perfect  knowledge  how  women  doctors  were  re- 
garded by  the  community,  and  she  knew  polit- 


154  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

ical  departments  too  well  to  believe  that  the  War 
Office  would  have  a  more  enlightened  outlook. 
In  the  past  she  had  said  in  choosing  her  profes- 
sion that  she  liked  "pioneer  work,"  and  she  was 
to  be  the  pioneer  woman  doctor  who,  with  the 
aid  of  Suffrage  societies,  founded  and  led  the 
Scottish  Women's  Hospitals  to  the  healing  of 
many  races. 

After  bringing  the  story  of  Dr.  Inglis  to  this 
point,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  the  working  of  her 
fertile  brain,  and  her  sense  of  vital  energy,  in  the 
opening  weeks  of  the  war.  What  material  for 
instant  action  she  had  at  hand,  she  used.  She 
had  helped  to  form  a  detachment  of  the  V.A.D. 
when  the  idea  of  this  once  despised  and  now 
greatly  desired  body  began  to  take  shape.  Be^ 
fore  the  war  men  spoke  slightingly  of  its  object^ 
and  it  was  much  depreciated.  Dr.  Inglis  saw 
all  the  possibilities  which  lay  in  the  voluntary 
aid  offer.  Dr.  Inglis  was  in  Edinburgh  at  the 
commencement  of  the  war,  and  the  6th  Edin- 
burgh V.A.D. ,  of  which  she  was  commandant, 
was  at  once  mobilised.  For  several  weeks  she 
worked  hard  at  their  training.  She  gave  up  the 
principal  rooms  in  her  house  for  a  depot  for 
the  outfit  of  Cargilfield  as  an  auxiliary  hospital. 
The  hospital  was  not  accepted.  If  it  had  been, 
and  Dr.  Inglis  put  in  charge  of  it,  the  wider  work 
of  her  life  might  never  have  had  its  fulfilment. 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     155 

Dr.  Inglis  from  the  first  advocated  that  the 
V.A.D.  should  be  used  as  probationers  in  mili- 
tary hospitals,  and  the  orderlies  who  served  in 
her  units  were  chiefly  drawn  from  this  body. 

In  September  she  went  to  London  to  put  her 
views  before  the  National  Union  and  the  War 
Office,  and  to  offer  the  services  of  herself  and 
women  colleagues.  Miss  Mair  expresses  the 
thoughts  which  were  dominating  her  mind.  "To 
her  it  seemed  wicked  that  women  with  power  to 
wield  the  surgeon's  knife  in  the  mitigation  of 
suffering  and  with  knowledge  to  diagnose  and 
cure,  should  be  withheld  from  serving  the  sick 
and  wounded." 

Her  love  for  the  wounded  and  suffering  gave 
her  a  clear  vision  as  to  what  lay  before  the  armies 
of  the  Allies.  ''At  the  root  of  all  her  strenu- 
ous work  of  the  last  three  years,"  says  her  sis- 
ter, "was  the  impelling  force  of  her  sympathy 
with  the  wounded  men.  This  feeling  amounted 
at  times  to  almost  agony.  Only  once  did  she 
allow  herself  to  show  this  innermost  feeling. 
This  was  at  the  root  of  her  passionate  yearning 
to  get  with  her  unit  to  Mesopotamia  during 
the  early  months  of  1916.  ^I  cannot  bear  to 
think  of  them,  our  Boys/  To  the  woman's 
heart  within  her  the  wounded  men  of  all  na- 
tions made  the  same  irresistible  appeal." 

In  that  spirit  she  approached  a  departmiCntal 


156  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

chief.  Official  reserve  at  last  gave  way,  and 
the  historic  sentence  was  uttered — ^'My  good 
lady,  go  home  and  sit  still."  In  that  utterance 
lay  the  germ  of  that  inspiration  which  was  to 
carry  the  Red  Cross  and  the  Scottish  women 
among  many  nations,  kindreds,  and  tongues. 

It  is  easy  to  picture  the  scene.  The  over- 
worked red-tape-bound  official:  the  little  figure 
of  the  woman  with  the  smile,  and  the  ready  an- 
swer, before  him.  There  is  a  story  that,  while 
a  town  in  Serbia  was  under  bombardment.  Dr. 
Inglis  was  also  in  it  with  some  of  her  hospital 
work.  She  sought  an  official  in  his  quarters,  as 
she  desired  certain  things  for  her  hospital.  The 
noise  of  the  firing  was  loud,  and  shells  were  fly- 
ing around.  Dr.  Inglis  seemed  oblivious  of  any 
sound  save  her  own  voice,  and  she  requested  of 
an  under  officer  an  interview  with  his  chief. 
The  official  had  at  last  to  confess  that  his  supe- 
rior was  hiding  in  the  cellar  till  the  calamity  of 
shell-fire  was  overpast.  In  much  the  same  con- 
dition was  the  local  War  Office  official  when 
confronted  with  Dr.  Inglis  and  her  practical 
importunity.  No  doubt  she  saw  it  was  useless 
to  continue  her  offers  of  service.  Mrs.  Fawcett 
says : 

"Nearly  all  the  memorial  notices  of  her  have 
recorded  the  fact  that  at  the  beginning  of  her  work 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     157 

m  19 14  the  War  Office  refused  her  official  recogni- 
tion. The  recognition  so  stupidly  refused  by  her 
own  country  was  joyfully  and  gratefully  given  by 
the  French  and  later  the  Serbian  A.M.S.  and  Red 
Cross." 

She  went  home  to  her  family,  who  so  often 
had  inspired  her  to  good  work,  and  as  she  sat 
and  talked  over  the  war  and  her  plans  with  one 
of  her  nieces,  she  suddenly  said,  ^'I  know  what 
we  will  do!     We  will  have  a  unit  of  our  own." 

The  ^'We"  referred  to  that  close-knit  body  of 
women  with  whom  she  had  worked  for  a  com- 
mon cause,  and  she  knew  at  once  that  "We" 
would  work  with  her  and  in  her  for  the  accom.- 
plishment  of  this  ideal  which  so  rapidly  took 
shape  in  her  teeming  brain. 

She  was  never  left  alone  in  any  part  of  her 
life's  work.  Her  personality  knit  not  only  her 
family  to  her  in  the  closest  bonds  of  love,  but 
she  had  devoted  friends  among  those  who  did 
not  see  eye  to  eye  with  her  in  the  common  cause. 
She  never  loved  them  the  less  for  disagreeing 
with  her,  and  though  their  indifference  to  her 
views  might  at  times  obscure  her  belief  in  their 
mental  calibre,  it  never  interfered  with  the  mu- 
tual affections  of  all.  She  did  not  leave  these 
friends  out  of  her  scheme  when  it  began  to  take 
shape. 


158  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

The  Edinburgh  Suffrage  offices,  no  longer 
needed  for  propaganda  and  organisation  work, 
became  the  headquarters  of  the  Scottish 
Women's  Hospitals,  and  the  enlarged  commit- 
tee, chiefly  of  Dr.  Inglis'  personal  friends,  be- 
gan its  work  imder  the  steam-hammer  of  her 
energy.     Miss  Mair  may  again  be  quoted. 

**Well  do  I  recall  the  first  suggestion  that  passed 
between  us  on  the  subject  of  directing  the  energies 
of  our  Suffrage  Societies  to  the  starting  of  a  hos- 
pital. Let  us  gather  a  few  hundred  pounds,  and 
then  appeal  to  the  public,  was  the  decision  of  our 
ever  courageous  Dr.  Blsie,  ?.nd  from  that  moment 
she  never  swerved  in  her  purpose.  Some  of  us 
gasped  when  she  announced  that  the  sum  of  £50,000 
must  speedily  be  advertised  for.  Some  timid  souls 
advised  the  naming  of  a  smaller  amount  as  our 
goal.  With  unerring  perception,  our  leader  re- 
fused to  lower  the  standard,  and  abundantly  has  she 
been  proved  right!  Not  £50,000,  but  over  £200,000 
have  rewarded  her  faith  and  her  hope. 

*'This  quick  perception  was  one  of  the  greatest 
of  her  gifts,  and  it  was  with  perfect  simplicity  she 
stated  to  me  once  that  when  on  rare  occasions  she 
had  yielded  her  own  conviction  to  pressure  from 
others,  the  result  had  been  unfortunate.  There 
was  not  an  ounce  of  vanity  in  her  composition.  She 
was  merely  stating  a  simple  fact.  Her  outlook  was 
both  wide  and  direct.  She  saw  the  object  aimed 
at,  and  she  marched  straight  on.     If,  on  the  road. 


,  WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     159 

some  obstacles  had  to  be  not  exactly  ruthlessly,  but 
very  firmly  brushed  aside,  her  strength  of  purpose 
was  in  the  end  a  blessing  to  all  concerned.  Strength 
combined  with  sweetness — with  a  wholesome  dash 
of  humour  thrown  in — in  my  mind  sums  up  her 
character.  What  that  strength  did  for  agonised 
Serbia  only  the  grateful  Serbs  can  fully  tell." 

LA.  letter  written  in  October  of  this  year  to 
Mrs.  Fawcett  tells  of  the  rapid  formation  of 
the  hospital  idea. 

*8  Walker  Street, 
*'Oct.  9,  1914. 

•*Dear  Mrs.  Fawcett, — I  wrote  to  you  from 
the  office  this  morning,  but  I  want  to  point  out  a 
little  more  fully  what  the  Committee  felt  about  the 
name  of  the  hospitals.  We  felt  that  our  original 
scheme  was  growing  very  quickly  into  something 
very  big — much  bigger  than  anything  we  had 
thought  of  at  the  beginning — and  we  felt  that  if 
the  hospitals  were  called  by  a  non-committal  name 
it  would  be  much  easier  to  get  all  men  and  women 
to  help.  The  scheme  is  of  course  a  National  Union 
scheme,  and  that  fact  the  Scottish  Federation  will 
never  lose  sight  of,  or  attempt  to  disguise.  The 
National  Union  will  be  at  the  head  of  all  our  ap- 
peals, and  press  notices,  and  paper. 

*'But — if  you  could  reverse  the  position,  and 
imagine  for  a  moment  that  the  Anti-Suffrage  Society 
had  thought  of  organising  all  these  skilled  women 
for  service,  you  can  quite  see  that  many  more  neu- 


160  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

trals,  and  a  great  many  suffragists  would  have  been 
ready  to  help  If  they  sent  their  subscriptions  to  the 
^Scottish  Women's  Hospital  for  Foreign  Service/ 
than  If  they  had  to  send  to  the  Anti-Suffrage  League 
Hospital. 

"We  were  convinced  that  the  more  women  we 
could  get  to  help,  the  greater  would  be  the  gain  to 
the  woman's  movement. 

''For  we  have  hit  upon  a  really  splendid  scheme. 
When  Mrs.  Laurie  and  I  went  to  see  Sir  George 
Beatson — the  head  of  the  Scottish  Red  Cross,  in 
Glasgow — he  said  at  once:  'Our  War  Office  will 
have  nothing  to  say  to  you,'  and  then  he  added,  'yet 
there  Is  no  knowing  what  they  may  do  before  the 
end  of  the  war.' 

"You  see,  we  get  these  expert  women  doctors, 
nurses,  and  ambulance  workers  organised.  We  send 
our  units  wherever  they  are  wanted.  Once  these 
units  are  out,  the  work  is  bound  to  grow.  The  need 
is  there,  and  too  terrible  to  allow  any  haggling  about 
who  does  the  work.  If  we  have  a  thoroughly  good 
organisation  here,  we  can  send  out  more  and  more 
units,  or  strengthen  those  already  out.  We  can 
add  motor  ambulances,  organise  rest  stations  on  the 
lines  of  communication,  and  so  on.  It  will  all  de- 
pend on  how  well  we  are  supplied  with  funds  and 
brains  at  our  base.  Each  unit  ought  to  be  carefully 
chosen,  and  the  very  best  women  doctors  must  go 
out  with  them.  I  wrote  this  morning  to  the  Regis- 
tered Medical  Women's  Association  In  London,  and 
asked  them  to  help  us.  and  offered  to  address  a  meet- 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     161 

Ing  when  I  come  up  for  your  meeting.  Next  week 
a  special  meeting  of  the  Scottish  Medical  Women's 
Association  is  being  called  to  discuss  the  question. 

''From  the  very  beginning  we  must  make  It  clear 
that  our  hospitals  are  as  well-equipped  and  well- 
manned  as  any  In  the  field,  more  economical  (easy ! ) , 
and  thoroughly  efficient. 

''I  cannot  think  of  anything  more  calculated  to 
bring  home  to  men  the  fact  that  women  can  help 
intelligently  in  any  kind  of  work.  So  much  of  our 
work  is  done  where  they  cannot  see  it.  They'll  see 
every  bit  of  this. 

"The  fates  seem  to  be  fighting  for  us!  Some- 
times schemes  do  float  ofi  with  the  most  extraor- 
dinary ease.  The  Belgian  Consul  here  is  Professor 
Sarolea — the  editor  of  Everyman.  He  grasped  at 
the  help  we  offered,  and  has  written  off  to  several 
influential  people.  And  then  yesterday  morning  he 
wrote  saying  that  his  brother  Dr.  Leon  Sarolea, 
would  come  and  'work  under'  us.  He  is  an  M.P., 
a  man  of  considerable  Influence,  So  you  can  see  the 
Belgian  Hospital  will  have  everything  in  its  favour. 

*'Then  Mr.  Seton  Watsoa,  who  has  devoted  his 
life  to  the  Balkan  States,  has  taken  up  the  Servian 
Unit.  He  puts  himself  'entirely  at  our  service.' 
He  knows  all  the  powers  that  be  in  Servia. 

"Two  people  in  the  Press  have  offered  to  help. 

"The  money  is  the  thing  now.  It  must  not  be 
wasted,  but  we  must  have  lots. 

"And  as  the  work  grows  do  let's  keep  it  together^ 
SO  that;  however  many  hospitals  we  send  out,  they 


162  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

all  shall  be  run  on  the  same  lines,  and  wherever 
people  see  the  Union  Jack  with  the  red,  white  and 
green  flag  below  it,  they'll  know  it  means  efficiency 
and  kindness  and  intelligence. 

"I  wanted  the  Executive,  for  this  reason,  to  call 
the  hospitals  'British  Women's  Hospitals  for  For- 
eign Service,'  but  of  course  it  was  their  own  Idea, 
and  one  understood  the  desire  to  call  it  'Scottish*; 
but  If  there  is  a  splendid  response  from  England  and 
from  other  federations,  that  will  have  to  be  re- 
considered, /  think.  The  great  thing  is  to  do  the 
thing  well,  and  do  it  as  one  scheme. 

"I  do  hope  you'll  approve  of  all  this.  I  am  mark- 
ing this  letter  'Private,'  because  it  isn't  an  official 
letter,  but  just  what  I  think — to  you,  my  Chief.  But 
you  can  show  it  to  anybody  you  like — as  that. 

"I  can  think  of  nothing  except  these  'Units'  just 
now !  And  when  one  hears  of  the  awful  need,  one 
can  hardly  sit  still  till  they  are  ready.  Professor 
Sarolea  simply  made  one's  heart  bleed.  He  is  just 
back  from  Belgium.  He  said,  'You  talk  of  distress 
from  the  war  here.  You  simply  know  nothing  about 
it.' — Ever  yours  sincerely, 

"Elsie  Maud  Inglis." 

In  October  1914  the  scheme  was  finally 
adopted  by  the  Scottish  Federation,  and  the 
name  of  Scottish  Women's  Hospitals  was 
chosen. 

At  the  same  meeting  the  committee  decided 
to  send  Dr.  Inglis  to  London  to  explain  the  plan 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     163 

to  the  National  Union,  and  to  speak  at  a  meet- 
ing in  the  Kingsway  Hall,  on  "What  women 
could  do  to  help  in  the  war."  At  that  meeting 
she  was  authorised  to  speak  on  the  plans  of  the 
S.W.H.  The  N.U.W.S.S.  adopted  the  plan  of 
campaign  on  15th  October,  and  the  London  so- 
ciety was  soon  taking  up  the  work  of  procuring 
money  to  start  new  units,  and  to  send  Dr.  Inglis 
out  on  her  last  enterprise,  with  a  unit  fully 
equipped  to  work  with  the  Serbian  army,  then 
fighting  on  the  Bulgarian  front. 

The  use  she  made  of  individuals  is  well  illus- 
trated by  Miss  Burke.  She  was  "found"  by  Dr. 
Inglis  in  the  office  of  the  London  Society,  and 
sent  forth  to  speak  and  fill  the  Treasury  chest  of 
the  S.W.H.  It  is  written  in  the  records  of  that 
work  how  wonderfully  Miss  Burke  influenced 
her  countrymen  in  America,  and  how  nobly, 
through  her  efforts,  they  have  aided  "the  great 
adventure." 

''U.S.M.S.  St.  Paul 

"Saturday,  February  gth. 

"Dear  Lady  Frances, — Certainly  I  am  one  of 
Dr.  Elsie's  children.  It  was  largely  d^e  to  her  intui- 
tion and  clear  judgment  of  character  that  my  feet 
were  placed  in  the  path  which  led  to  my  reaching 
my  maximum  efficiency  as  a  hospital  worker  and  a 
member  of  the  Scottish  Women's  Hospitals.  I  first 
met  Dr.  Elsie  after  I  had  been  the  Secretary  of  the 


164  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

London  Committee  for  about  a  month.  There  was 
no  question  of  meeting  a  'stranger^;  hec  kindly  eyes 
smiled  straight  Into  mine. 

"Was  I  young  and  rather  shy?  Well,  the  best 
way  to  encourage  me  was  to  give  me  responsibility. 

"  'Do  you  speak  French?' 

"  Tes.' 

"  'Very  well,  go  and  write  me  a  letter  to  General 
de  Torcy,  telling  him  we  accept  the  building  he  has 
offered  at  Troyes.' 

"Some  one  hazarded  the  suggestion  that  the  let- 
ter should  be  passed  on. 

**  'Nonsense,'  replied  Dr.  Elsie,  'I  know  the  type. 
That  girl  probably  speaks  six  languages.  If  she 
says  she  speaks  French,  she  does.' 

"She  practically  signed  the  letter  I  wrote  her 
without  reading  It.  Doubtless  all  the  time  I  was 
with  her  I  was  under  her  keen  scrutiny,  and  when 
finally,  after  arranging  a  meeting  for  her  at  Ox- 
ford, which  she  found  Impossible  to  take,  owing  to 
her  sudden  decision  to  leave  for  Serbia,  she  had  al- 
ready judged  me,  and  without  hesitation  she  told 
me  to  go  to  Oxford  and  speak  myself.  I  have 
wondered  often  whether  any  one  else  would  have 
sent  a  young  and  unknown  speaker — it  needed  Dr. 
Elsie's  knowledge  of  human  character  and  rapid 
energetic  method  of  making  decisions. 

"It  would  be  difficult  for  we  young  ones  of  the 
Scottish  Women's  Hospitals  to  analyse  our  feelings 
towards  Dr.  Elsie.  A  wave,  of  her  hand  in  passing 
meant  much  to  us.'* 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     165 

Space  utterly  forbids  our  following  the  for- 
tunes of  the  Scottish  Women's  Hospitals  as  they 
went  forth  one  by  one  to  France,  to  Belgium, 
to  Serbia,  to  Corsica,  and  P.ussia.  That  his- 
tory will  have  some  day  to  be  written.  It  Is 
only  possible  in  this  memoir  to  speak  of  their 
work  in  relation  to  their  founder  and  leader. 
"Not  I,  but  my  unit,"  was  her  dying  watchword, 
and  when  the  work  of  her  unit  is  reviewed,  it  is 
obvious  how  they  carried  with  them,  as  an  ori- 
flamme,  the  inspiration  of  unselfish  devotion  set 
them  by  Dr.  Inglis. 

Besides  going  into  all  the  detailed  work  of  the 
hospital  equipment,  Dr.  Inglis  found  time  to 
continue  her  work  of  speaking  for  the  cause  of 
the  hospitals.  We  find  her  addressing  her  old 
friends : 

"I  have  the  happiest  recollection  of  Dr.  I.  ad- 
dressing a  small  meeting  of  the  W.  L.  Association 
here.  It  was  one  of  her  first  meetings  to  raise 
money.  She  told  us  how  she  wanted  to  go  to  Ser- 
bia. She  was  so  convincing,  but  with  all  my  faith 
in  her,  I  never  thought  she  would  get  there !  That, 
and  much  more  she  did — a  lesson  in  faith. 

"She  looked  round  the  little  gathering  in  the 
Good  Templar  Hall  and  said,  T  suppose  nobody 
here  could  lend  me  a  yacht?'  She  did  get  her  ship 
there." 

To  one  of  her  workers  in  this  time,  she  said. 


166  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

*'My  dear,  we  shall  live  all  our  lives  in  the 
shadow  of  war.'*  The  one  to  whom  she  spoke 
says,  ^'A  cold  chill  struck  nay  heart.  Did  she 
feel  it,  and  know  that  never  again  would  things 
be  as  they  were?" 

At  the  close  of  1914  Dr.  Inglis  went  to  France 
to  see  the  Scottish  Women's  Hospital  established 
and  working  under  the  French  Red  Cross  at 
Royaumont.  It  was  probably  on  her  way  back 
that  she  went  to  Paris  on  business  connected 
with  Royaumont.  She  went  into  Notre  Dame, 
and  chose  a  seat  in  a  part  of  the  cathedral  where 
she  could  feel  alone.  She  there  had  an  ex- 
perience which  she  afterwards  told  to  Mrs. 
M'Laren.  As  she  sat  there  she  had  a  strong 
feeling  that  some  one  was  behind  her.  She 
resisted  the  impulse  to  turn  round,  thinking  it 
was  some  one  who  like  herself  wanted  to  be 
quiet!  The  feeling  grew  so  strong  at  last,  that 
she  involuntarily  turned  round.  There  was  no 
one  near  her,  but  for  the  first  time  she  realised 
she  was  sitting  in  front  of  a  statue  of  Joan  of 
Arc.  To  her  it  appeared  as  if  the  statue  was 
instinct  with  life.  She  added:  "Wasn't  it  curi- 
ous?" Then  later  she  said,  "I  would  like  to 
know  what  Joan  was  wanting  to  say  to  me!" 
I  often  think  of  the  natural  way  which  she  told 
me  of  the  experience,  and  the  practical  con- 
clusion of  wishing  to  know  what  Joan  wanted. 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     167 

Once  again  she  referred  to  the  incident,  before 
going  to  Russia.  I  see  her  expression  now,  just 
for  a  moment  forgetting  everything  else,  keen, 
concentrated,  and  her  humorous  smile,  as  she 
said,  "You  know  I  would  like  awfully  to  know 
what  Joan  was  trying  to  say  to  me." 

Elsie  Inglis  was  not  the  first,  nor  will  she  be 
the  last  woman  who  has  found  help  in  the  story 
of  the  Maid  of  Orleans,  when  the  causes  dear 
to  the  hearts  of  nations  are  at  stake.  It  is  easy 
to  hear  the  words  that  would  pass  between  these 
two  leaders  in  the  time  of  their  country's  war- 
fare. The  graven  figure  of  Joan  was  instinct 
with  life,  from  the  undying  love  of  race  and 
country,  which  flowed  back  to  her  from  the 
woman  who  was  as  ready  to  dedicate  to  her 
country  her  self-forgetting  devotion,  as  Jeanne 
d'Arc  had  been  in  her  day.  Both,  in  their  day 
and  generation,  had  heard — 

"The   quick  alarming  drum — 
Saying,  Come, 
Freemen,  come, 

Ere  your  heritage  be  wasted,  said  the  quick 
alarming  drum." 

"Abbaye  de  Royaumont, 
''Dec,  22,   1914. 

"Dearest  Amy, — Many,  many  happy  Christ- 
mases  to  you,  dear,  and  to  all  the  others.  Every- 
thing Is  splendid  here  now,  and  if  the  General  from 


168  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

headquarters  would  only  come  and  inspect  us,  we 
could  begin.  The  wards  are  perfect.  I  only  wish 
you  could  see  them  with  their  red  bedcovers,  and 
little  tables.  There  are  four  wards,  and  we  have 
called  them  Blanche  of  Castille  (the  woman  who 
really  started  the  building  of  this  place,  the  mother 
of  Louis  IX.,  the  Founder,  as  he  is  called),  Queen 
Margaret  of  Scotland,  Joan  of  Arc,  and  Millicent 
Fawcett.  Now,  don't  you  think  that  is  rather  nice ! 
The  Abbaye  itself  is  a  wonderful  place.  It  has 
beautiful  architecture,  and  is  placed  in  delightful 
woods.  One  wants  to  spend  hours  exploring  it,  in- 
stead of  which  we  have  all  been  working  like  galley 
slaves  getting  the  hospital  in  order.  The  equip- 
ment has  come  out  practically  all  right.  There  are 
no  thermometers  and  no  sandbags.  I  feel  they'll 
turn  up.  Yesterday,  'I  was  told  there  were  no 
tooth-brushes  and  no  nail-brushes,  but  they  appeared. 
After  all  the  fuss,  you  can  imagine  our  feelings  when 
the  'Director,'  an  official  of  the  French  Red  Cross, 
who  has  to  live  here  with  us,  told  us  French  soldiers 
don't  want  tooth-brushes ! 

*'Our  first  visitors  were  three  French  officers, 
whom  we  took  for  the  inspecting  general,  and 
treated  with  grovelling  deference,  till  we  found  they 
knew  nothing  about  it,  and  were  much  more  inter- 
ested In  the  tapestry  in  the  proprietor's  house  than 
in  our  instruments.  However,  they  were  very  nice, 
and  said  we  were  bien  meuhle. 

"Once  we  had  all  been  on  tenterhooks  all  day 
about  the  inspection.     Suddenly,  a  man  poked  his 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     169 

head  round  the  door  of  the  doctor's  sitting-room  and 
said,  'The  General.'  In  one  flash  every  doctor  was 
out  of  the  room  and  into  her  bedroom  for  her  uni- 
form coat,  and  I  was  left  sitting.  I  got  up,  and 
wandered  downstairs,  when  an  excited  orderly 
dashed  past,  singing,  'Nothing  but  two  British  of- 
ficers!' Another  time  we  were  routed  out  from 
breakfast  by  the  cry  of  'The  General,'  but  this  time 
it  turned  out  to  be  a  French  regiment,  whose  officers 
had  been  moved  by  curiosity  to  come  round  by  here. 
The  General  has  not  arrived  yet. 

"We  have  had  to  get  a  new  boiler  in  the  kitchen, 
new  taps  and  lavatories,  and  electric  light,  an  ab- 
solute necessity  in  this  huge  place,  and  all  the  theatre 
sinks.  We  certainly  are  no  longer  a  mobile  hos- 
pital, but  as  we  are  twelve  miles  from  the  point  from 
which  the  wounded  are  distributed  (I  am  getting 
very  discreet  about  names  since  a  telegram  of  mine 
was  censored) ,  we  shall  probably  be  as  useful  here 
as  anywhere.  They  even  think  we  may  get  Eng- 
lish Tommies. 

"You  have  no  idea  of  the  conditions  to  which  the 
units  came  out,  and  they  have  behaved  like  perfect 
bricks.  The  place  was  like  an  ice  hole:  there  were 
no  fires,  no  hot  water,  no  furniture,  not  even 
blankets,  and  the  equipment  did  not  arrive  for  five 
days.  They  have  scrubbed  the  whole  place  out 
themselves,  as  if  they  were  born  housemaids;  put 
up  the  beds,  stuffed  the  mattresses,  and  done  every- 
thing.    Really,  I  am  proud  of  them !     They  stick 


170  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

at  absolutely  nothing,  and  when  Madame  came,  she 
said,  'What  it  is  to  belong  to  a  practical  nation!' 

"We  had  a  service  in  the  ward  on  Sunday.  We 
are  going  to  see  if  they  will  let  us  use  the  little  St. 
Louis  Chapel.  There  are  two  other  chapels,  one 
in  use,  that  v/e  hope  the  soldiers  will  go  to,  and  a 
beautiful  chapel  the  same  style  of  architecture  as 
the  chapel  at  Mont  St.  Michel.  It  is  a  perfect  joy 
to  walk  through  it  to  meals.  The  village  cure  has 
been  to  tea  with  us. 

*'Will  you  beheve  it,  that  General  hasn't  arrived 
yet! — Your  loving  Elsie." 

Mr.  Sexton  Watson  has  permitted  his  article 
in  the  December  number  of  the  N ew  Europe 
(1917)  to  be  reprinted  here.  His  complete 
knov^ledge  of  Serbia  enables  him  to  describe 
both  the  work  and  Dr.  Inglis  who  undertook 
the  great  task  set  before  her. 

"Elsie  IngHs  was  one  of  the  heroic  figures  of  the 
war,  one  whose  memory  her  many  friends  will  cher- 
ish with  pride  and  confidence — pride  at  having  been 
privileged  to  work  with  her,  confidence  in  the  race 
which  breeds  such  women.  This  is  not  the  place  to 
tell  the  full  story  of  her  devotion  to  many  a  good 
cause  at  home,  but  the  New  Europe  owes  her  a  debt 
of  special  interest  and  affection.  For  in  her  own 
person  she  stood  for  that  spirit  of  sympathy  and 
comprehension  upon  which  intercourse  between  the 
nations  must  be  founded,  if  the  ideal  of  a  New 
Europe  is  ever  to  become  a  reality. 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN     171 

"Though  her  lifework  had  hitherto  lain  in  ut- 
terly different  fields,  she  saw  in  a  flash  the  needs  of 
a  tragic  situation;  and  when  war  came  offered  all  her 
Indomitable   spirit  and  tireless   energy  to   a   cause 
till  recently  unknown  and  even  frowned  upon  in  our 
country.     Like  the  Douglas  of  old,  she  flung  herself 
where  the  battle  raged  most  fiercely — always  claim- 
ing and  at  last  obtaining  permission  to  set  up  her 
hospitals  v/here  the  obstacles  were  greatest  and  the 
dangers  most  acute.     But  absorbed  as  she  was  in 
her  noble  task  of  healing,  she  saw  beyond  it  the  high 
national  ideal  that  inspired  the  Serbs  to  endure  suf- 
ferings unexampled  even  in  this  war,  and  became 
an   enthusiastic   convert  to   the   cause    of   Southern 
Slav  unity.     To  her,  as  to  all  true  Europeans,  the 
principle  of  nationality  is  not,  indeed,  the  end  of  all 
human  wisdom,  but  the  sure  foundation  upon  which 
a  new  and  saner  internationalism  is  to  be  built,  and 
an  inalienable  right  to  which  great  and  small  alike 
are   entitled.     Perhaps   the    fact  that   she   herself 
came  of  a  small  nation  which,  like  Serbia,  has  known 
how  to  celebrate  its  defeats,  was  not  without  its 
share  in  determining  her  sympathies. 

"The  full  political  meaning  of  her  work  has  not 
yet  been  brought  home  to  her  countrymen,  and  yet 
what  she  has  done  will  live  after  her.  Her  achieve- 
ment in  Serbia  itself  in  19 15  was  sufficiently  remark- 
able>  but  even  that  was  a  mere  prelude  to  her  achieve- 
ment on  the  Eastern  front.  The  Serbian  Division 
in  Southern  Russia,  which  the  Scottish  Women's 
Hospitals  went  out  to  help,  was  not  Serbian  at  all 


17^  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word.  Its  proper  name 
is  the  Jugoslav  Division,  for  it  was  composed  en- 
tirely of  volunteers  drawn  from  among  the  Serbs, 
Croats,  and  Slovenes  of  Austria-Hungary  who  had 
been  taken  prisoners  by  the  Russian  army.  Thou- 
sands of  these  men  enrolled  themselves  on  the  side 
of  the  Entente  and  in  the  service  of  Serbia,  in  order 
to  fight  for  the  realisation  of  Southern  Slav  inde- 
pendence and  unity  under  the  national  dynasty  of 
Kara  George.  Beyond  the  ordinary  risks  of  war 
they  acted  in  full  knowledge  that  capture  by  the 
enemy  would  mean  the  same  fate  as  Austria  meted 
out  to  the  heroic  Italian  deputy,  Cesare  Battisti; 
and  some  of  them,  left  wounded  on  the  battle-field 
after  a  retreat,  shot  each  other  to  avoid  being  taken 
alive.  Throughout  the  Dobrudja  campaign  they 
fought  with  the  most  desperate  gallantry  against 
impossible  odds,  and,  owing  to  inadequate  support 
during  a  retreat,  their  main  body  was  reduced  from 
15,000  to  4000.  Latterly  the  other  divisions  had 
been  withdrawn  to  recruit  at  Odessa,  after  sharing 
the  defence  of  the  Rumanian  southern  front. 

"To  these  men  in  the  summer  of  19 16  Serbia  had 
sent  a  certain  number  of  higher  officers,  but,  for 
equipment  and  medical  help,  they  were  dependent 
upon  what  the  Russians  could  spare  from  their  own 
almost  unlimited  needs.  At  the  worst  hour  Dr. 
Inglis  and  her  unit  came  to  the  help  of  the  Jugo- 
slavs, shared  their  privations  and  misfortunes,  and 
spared  no  effort  in  their  cause. 

^'History  will  record  the  name  of  Elsie  Inglis, 


WAR  AND  THE  SCOTTISH  WOMEN    ITS 

like  that  of  Lady  Paget,  as  pre-eminent  among  that 
band  of  women  who  have  redeemed  for  all  time 
the  honour  of  Britain  in  the  Balkans.  Among  the 
Serbs  it  is  already  assuming  an  almost  legendary 
quality.  To  us  it  will  serve  to  remind  us  that 
Florence  Nightingale  will  never  be  without  succes- 
sors among  us.  And  in  particular,  every  true  Scots- 
man will  cherish  her  memory,  every  believer  in  the 
cause  for  which  she  gave  her  life  will  gain  fresh 
courage  from  her  example. 

"R.  W.  Seton-Watson." 


CHAPTER  IX 


SERBIA 


"Send  thine  hand  from  above ;  rid  me,  and  deliver  me 
out  of  great  v^^aters,  from  the  hand  of  strange 
children." 

"And  pray  ye  that  your  fight  be  not  in  the  winter. 
For  in  those  days  shall  be  affliction,  such  as  was  not 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation  which  God  created 
unto  this  time,  neither  shall  be." 

*'On  either  side  of  the  river,  was  there  the  tree  of  life : 
And  the  leaves  of  the  tree  were  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations." 

Dr.  Inglis  remained  at  home  directing  the 
many  operations  necessary  to  ensure  the  proper 
equipment  of  the  units,  and  the  difficult  task 
of  getting  them  conveyed  overseas.  From  the 
beginning,  till  her  return  with  her  unit  serving 
with  the  Serbian  army  in  Russia,  she  had  the 
sustaining  co-operation  both  of  the  Admiralty 
and  the  Foreign  Office.  In  the  many  complica- 
tions surrounding  the  history  of  the  hospitals 
with  the  Allied  armies,  the  Scottish  women 
owed  very  much  to  both  Secretaries  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  and  very  particularly  to  Lord 
Robert  Cecil  in  his  department  of  the  Foreign 
Office. 

174 


SERBIA  175 

It  was  not  easy  to  get  the  scheme  of  hospitals 
staffed  entirely  by  women,  serving  abroad  with 
armies  fighting  the  common  and  unscrupulous 
foe,  accepted  by  those  in  authority.  The  For- 
eign Office  was  responsible  for  the  safety  of  these 
British  outpost  hospitals,  and  they  knew  well 
the  dangers  and  privations  to  which  the  devoted 
pioneer  band  of  women  would  be  exposed.  They 
made  many  stipulations  with  Dr.  Inglis,  which 
she  accepted,  and  abided  by  as  long  as  her  work 
was  not  hindered.  No  care  or  diplomatic  work 
was  spared,  and  if  at  the  end  of  their  service 
in  Russia  the  safety  of  the  unit  was  a  matter  of 
grave  anxiety  to  the  Foreign  Office,  it  had  never 
cause  to  be  ashamed  of  the  way  this  country's 
honour  and  good  faith  was  upheld  by  the  hos-^ 
pitals  under  the  British  flag,  amid  the  chaotic 
sufferings  of  the  Russian  people. 

In  the  spring  of  191 5  Dr.  Eleanor  Soltau,  who 
was  in  charge  of  the  First  Serbian  Unit,  became 
ill  with  diphtheria  in  the  midst  of  the  typhus 
epidemic  which  was  devastating  the  Serbian 
people.  The  Serbian  Minister  writes  of  that 
time : — 

"They  were  the  first  to  go  to  the  help  of  Serbia 
when  the  Austrians,  after  they  were  defeated,  be- 
sides 60,000  prisoners,  also  left  behind  them  epi- 
demics In  all  the  districts  which  they  had  Invaded. 
The  Scottish  women  turned  up  their  sleeves,  so  to 


1T6  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

speak,  at  the  railways  station  itself,  and  went  straight 
to  typhus  and  typhoid-stricken  patients,  who  were 
pitifully  dying  in  the  crowded  hospitals." 

Colonel  Hunter,  A.M.S.,  wrote  after  her 
death:  ^'It  was  my  privilege  and  happiness  to 
see  much  of  her  work  in  Serbia  when  I  was  of- 
ficer in  charge  of  the  corps  of  R.A.M.C.  officers 
sent  out  by  the  W.O.  to  deal  with  the  raging 
epidemic  of  typhus  and  famine  fevers  then 
devastating  the  land.  I  have  never  met  with 
any  one  who  gave  me  so  deep  an  impression  of 
singlemindedness,  gentleheartedness,  clear  and 
purposeful  vision,  wise  judgment,  and  absolutely 
fearless  disposition.  .  .  .  No  more  lovable  per- 
sonality than  hers,  or  more  devoted  and  cour- 
ageous body  of  women,  ever  set  out  to  help 
effectively  a  people  in  dire  distress  than  the 
S.W.H.,"  which  she  organised  and  sent  out,  and 
afterwards  took  personal  charge  of  in  Serbia  in 
191 5.  Amidst  the  most  trying  conditions  she, 
or  they,  never  faltered  in  courage  or  endurance. 
Under  her  wise  and  gentle  leadership  difficulties 
seemed  only  to  stir  to  further  endeavour,  more 
extended  work,  and  greater  endurance  of  hard- 
ship. Captain  Ralph  Glyn  writes  from 
France : — 

"I  see  you  went  to  the  funeral  of  that  wonderful 
person,  Dr.  Elsie  Inglis.  I  shall  never  forget  arriv- 
ing where  that  S.W.  unit  was  in  the  midst  of  the 


SERBIA  177 

typhus  In  Serbia,  and  finding  her  and  all  her  people 
so  'clean'  and  obviously  ready  for  anything/' 

The  Serbian  nation  lost  no  time  in  commemo- 
rating her  services  to  them.  At  Mladenovatz 
they  built  a  beautiful  fountain  close  to  the  camp 
hospital.  On  7th  October  1915  it  was  formally 
opened  with  a  religious  service  according  to  the 
rites  of  the  Greek  Church.  Dr.  Inglis  turned 
on  the  water,  which  was  to  flow  through  the 
coming  years  in  grateful  memory  of  the  good 
work  done  by  the  Scottish  Women's  Hospitals. 

IN  HONOUR  OF  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

(Obilt  Nov.  27,  1917.) 

At  Mladenovatz  still  the  fountain  sings 

Raised  by  the  Serbs  to  you  their  angel  friend, 
Who  fought  the  hunger-typhus  to  its  end; 

A  nobler  fountain  from  your  memory  springs, 

A  fountain-head  where  Faith  renews  its  wings 
— Faith  in  the  powers  of  womanhood  to  bend 
War's  curse  to  blessing,  and  to  make  amend 

By  Love,  for  Hate's  unutterable  things. 

Wherefore,  when  cannon-voices  cease  to  roar, 
A  louder  voice  shall  echo  in  our  ears 

— Voice  of  three  peoples  joined  in  one  accord. 
Telling  that,  gentle  to  your  brave  heart's  core, 
You  faced  unwavering  all  that  woman  fears. 
And  clear  of  vision  followed  Christ  the  Lord. 

[Note. — Two  years  ago  the  Serbians  dedicated  a  simple  foun- 
tain in  "Mladenovatz"  to  the  grateful  memory  of  one  they  spoke 
of  as  "the  angel  of  their  people."  The  Rumanian  and  Russian 
refugees  in  the  Dobrudja  will  never  forget  her.] 

H.  D.  Rawnsley. 


178  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

The  Englishwoman^  April  and  June  1916,  has 
two  articles  written  by  Dr.  Inglis,  under  the 
title  ^'The  Tragedy  of  Serbia."  The  literary 
power  of  her  narrative  makes  one  regret  that 
she  did  not  live  to  give  a  consecutive  account  of 
all  she  passed  through  in  the  countries  in  which 
she  suffered  with  the  peoples : — 

"When  we  reached  Serbia  In  May  19 15,  she  was 
lying  In  sunshine.  Two  storms  had  raged  over  her 
during  the  preceding  months — ^the  Austrian  Invasion 
and  the  terrific  typhus  epidemic.  In  our  safe  little 
island  we  can  hardly  realise  what  either  meant.  At 
the  end  of  19 14,  the  Austrian  Empire  hurled  its 
^punitive  expedition'  across  the  Danube — a  punitive 
expedition  that  ended  in  the  condign  punishment  of 
the  Invader.  They  left  behind  them  a  worse  foe 
than  themselves,  and  the  typhus,  which  began  in 
the  hospitals  they  left  so  scandalously  filthy  and 
overcrowded,  swept  over  the  land.'* 

Dr.  Inglis  describes  "the  long  peaceful  sum- 
mer," with  its  hopes  of  an  advance  to  their  aid 
on  the  part  of  the  Allies.  The  Serbs  were  con- 
scious the  "Great  Powers"  owed  them  much,  for 
how  often  we  heard  the  words,  "We  are  the  only 
one,  as  yet,  who  has  beaten  our  enemy." 

"Not  till  September  did  any  real  sense  of 
danger  trouble  them.  Then  the  clouds  rolled 
up  black  and  threatening  on  the  horizon — Bul- 
garia arming,   and  a  hundred  thousand  Ger- 


SERBIA  179 

mans  massing  on  the  northern  frontier.  They 
began  to  draw  off  the  main  part  of  their  army 
from  the  Danube  towards  the  east,  to  meet  their 
old  enemies.  The  Powers  refused  to  let  them 
attack,  and  they  waited  till  the  Bulgarian 
mobilisation  was  complete.  The  Allies  dis- 
counted the  attack  from  the  north;  aeroplanes 
had  been  out,  and  ^there  are  no  Germans  there.' 
There  are  no  signs  whatever  of  any  military 
movements,  so  said  the  wiseacres.  The  only 
troops  there  are  untrained  Austrian  levies, 
which  the  Serbs  ought  to  be  able  to  deal  with 
themselves,  if  they  are  up  to  their  form  last 
year. 

"Then  the  storm  broke.  The  100,000  Ger- 
mans appeared  on  the  northern  frontier.  The 
Bulgars  invaded  from  the  east,  the  Greeks  did 
not  come  in,  and  the  Austrians  poured  in  from 
the  west.  The  Serbian  army  shortened  the 
enormous  line  they  had  to  defend,  but  they  could 
not  stand  against  the  long-distance  German 
guns,  and  so  began  the  retreat. 

"  'What  is  coming  to  Serbia?'  said  a  Serb  to 
me,  Ve  cannot  think.'  And  then,  hopefully, 
'But  God  is  great  and  powerful,  and  our  Allies 
are  great  and  powerful  too.'  Strong  men  could 
hardly  speak  of  the  disaster  without  breaking 
down.  They  looked  at  one  so  eagerly.  When 
are  your  men  coming  up?    They  must  come 


180  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

soon.'  We  must  give  our  people  two  months,' 
the  experts  among  us  answered,  'to  bring  up  the 
heavy  artillery.  We  thought  the  Serbs  would 
be  able  to  hold  the  West  Morava  Valley.'  'It 
is  too  hilly  for  the  German  artillery  to  be  of 
any  use,'  they  said." 

Dr.  Inglis  goes  on  to  relate  how  all  the  cal- 
culations were  wrong,  how  the  Austrian  force 
came  down  that  very  valley.  The  Serbs  were 
caught  in  a  trap,  and  that  160,000  of  their  gal- 
lant little  army  escaped  was  a  wonderful  feat. 
''That  they  are  already  keen  to  take  the  field 
again  is  but  one  more  proof  of  the  extraordinary 
recuperative  power  of  the  nation." 

Dr.  Elsie  gives  an  account  of  the  typhus  epi- 
demic. The  first  unit  under  Dr.  Soltau,  in 
1914,  was  able  at  Kragujevatz  to  do  excellent 
work  for  the  Serbian  army  after  its  victories, 
and  it  was  only  evacuated  owing  to  the  retreat 
in  October  191 5.  The  unit  had  only  been  a 
fortnight  out  when  the  committee  got  from  it  a 
telegram,  "dire  necessity"  for  more  doctors  and 
nuilses.  The  word  dire  was  used,  hoping  it 
would  pass  unnoticed  by  the  censor,  for  the 
authorities  did  not  wish  the  state  of  Serbia  from 
typhus  to  be  generally  known.  We  shall  never 
know  what  the  death-rate  was  during  the  epi- 
demic; but  of  the  425  Serbian  doctors,  125  died 


SERBIA  181 

of  the  disease,  and  two-thirds  of  the  remainder 
had  it. 

The  Scottish  Committee  hastened  out  sup- 
plies and  staff. 

"For  three  months  the  epidemic  raged,  and  all 
women  may  ever  be  proud  of  the  way  those  women 
worked.  It  was  like  a  long-drawn-out  battle,  and 
not  one  of  them  played  the  coward.  Not  one  of 
them  asked  to  come  away.  There  were  three 
deaths  and  nine  cases  of  illness  among  the  unit;  and 
may  we  not  truly  claim  that  those  three  women  who 
died  gave  their  lives  for  the  great  cause  for  which 
our  country  stands  to-day  as  much  as  any  man  in 
the  trenches." 

Dr.  Inglis  speaks  of  the  full  share  of  work 
taken  by  other  British  units — Lady  Paget's 
Hospital  at  Skopio,  "magnificently  organised"; 
The  Red  Cross  under  Dr.  Banks  ''took  more 
than  its  share  of  the  burden";  and  how  Dr. 
Ryan  of  the  American  hospital  asserted  that 
Serbia  would  have  been  wiped  out  but  for  the 
work  of  the  Foreign  Missions. 

Miss  Kolme  tells  of  some  of  her  experiences 

with  her  leader: — 

"Kragujevatz. 

"One  day,  Dr.  Elsie  Inglis  took  me  out  shopping 
with  her,  and  v/e  wanted  a  great  many  things  for 
our  hospital  in  the  way  of  drugs,  etc.,  and  we  also 
wanted    more    than    anything    else    some    medical 


18^  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

scales  for  weighing  drugs.  While  we  were  in  the 
shop  Dr.  Inglis  saw  hanging  up  in  it  three  pairs  of 
these  scales.  So  she  asked  the  man,  in  her  most 
persuasive  manner,  if  he  would  sell  her  a  pair  of 
these  scales  for  our  hospital  use.  He  explained  at 
length  that  he  used  all  the  scales,  and  was  sorry 
that  he  could  not  possibly  sell  them.  So  Dr.  Inglis 
bought  some  more  things — in  fact,  we  stayed  in  the 
shop  for  about  an  hour  buying  things  to  the  amount 
of  £io,  and  between  each  of  the  different  articles 
purchased,  she  would  again  revert  to  the  scales  and 
say,  *You  know  it  is  for  your  men  that  we  want 
them,'  until  at  last  the  man — exhausted  by  his  re- 
fusals— took  down  the  scales  and  presented  them  to 
her.  When  she  asked  'How  much  are  they?'  he 
made  a  bow,  and  said  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  give 
them  to  her. 

"When  we  were  taken  prisoners,  and  had  been  so 
for  some  time,  and  before  we  were  liberated,  the 
German  Command  came  bringing  a  paper  which 
they  commanded  Dr.  Inglis  to  sign.  The  purport 
of  the  paper  was  a  statement  which  declared  that 
the  British  prisoners  had  been  well  treated  in  the 
hands  of  the  Germans,  and  was  already  signed  by 
two  men  who  were  heads  of  other  British  units. 
Dr.  Inglis  said,  'Why  should  I  sign  this  paper?  I 
do  not  know  if  all  the  prisoners  are  being  well 
treated  by  you,  therefore  I  decline  to  sign  it.'  To 
which  the  German  authorities  replied,  'You  must 
sign  it.'     Dr.  Inglis  then  said,  'Well,  make  me,'  and 


SERBIA  183 

that  was  the  end  of  that  incident — she  never  did 
sign  it. 

'*So  convinced  were  some  of  the  people  belong- 
ing to  the  Scottish  Women's  unit  that  the  British 
forces  were  coming  to  the  aid  of  their  Serbian  ally, 
that  long  after  they  were  taken  prisoners  they 
thought,  each  time  they  heard  a  gun  from  a  differ- 
ent quarter,  that  their  liberators  were  close  at  hand. 
So  much  so  indeed,  that  three  of  the  members  of 
the  unit  begged  that  in  the  event  of  the  unit  being 
sent  home  they  might  be  allowed  to  stay  behind  in 
Serbia  with  the  Serbs,  to  help  the  Serbian  Red 
Cross.  Dr.  Inglis  unofficially  consented  to  this,  and 
with  the  help  of  the  Serbian  Red  Cross  these  three 
people  in  question  adjourned  to  a  village  hard  by 
which  was  about  a  mile  from  the  hospital,  three 
days  before  the  unit  had  orders  to  move.  No  one 
except  Dr.  Inglis  and  three  other  people  of  the  unit 
knew  where  these  three  members  were  living.  How- 
ever, the  date  of  the  departure  was  changed,  and 
the  unit  was  told  they  were  to  wait  another  twenty 
days.  This  made  it  impossible  for  these  three  peo- 
ple to  appear  again  with  the  unit.  They  continued 
to  live  at  the  little  house  which  sheltered  them. 
Suddenly  one  afternoon  one  of  the  members  of  the 
unit  went  to  ask  at  the  German  Command  if  there 
were  any  letters  for  the  unit.  At  this  interview, 
which  took  place  about  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, the  person  was  informed  that  the  whole  unit 
was  to  leave  that  night  at  7.30.  Dr.  Inglis  sent 
the  person  who  received  this  command  to  tell  the 


184.  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

three  people  In  the  cottage  to  get  ready,  and  that  they 
must  go,  she  thought.  But  the  messenger  only  said, 
'We  have  had  orders  that  the  unit  is  to  go  at  7.30 
to-night,'  but  did  not  say  that  Dr.  Inglis  had  sent 
an  order  for  the  three  people  to  get  ready,  so  they 
did  nothing  but  simply  went  to  bed  at  ten  o'clock, 
thinking  the  unit  had  already  started.  It  was  a 
wintry  night,  snowing  heavily,  and  not  a  night  that 
one  would  have  sent  out  a  dog  I 

*'At  about  half -past  ten  a  knock  came  to  the  win- 
dow, and  Dr.  Inglis'  voice  was  heard  saying,  'You 
have  to  come  at  once  to  the  train.  I  am  here  with 
an  armed  guard!'  (All  the  rest  of  the  unit  had 
been  at  the  station  for  some  hours,  but  the  train 
was  not  allowed  to  start  until  every  one  was  there.) 
So  Dr.  Inglis  came  herself  for  us.  It  was  difficult 
to  get  her  to  enter  the  house,  and  naturally  she 
seemed  rather  ruffled,  having  had  to  come  more  than 
a  mile  in  the  deep  snow,  as  she  was  the  only  person 
who  knew  anything  about  us.  One  of  the  party 
said,  'Are  you  really  cross,  or  are  you  pretending 
because  the  armed  guard  understands  English?' 
She  gave  her  queer  little  smile,  and  said,  'No,  I  am 
not  pretending.'  The  whole  party  tramped  through 
the  snow  to  the  station,  and  on  the  way  she  told 
them  she  was  afraid  that  she  had  smashed  some- 
body's window,  having  knocked  at  another  cottage 
before  she  found  ours  in  the  dark,  thinliing  it  was 
the  one  we  lived  in,  for  which  she  was  very  much 
chaffed  by  her  companions,  who  knew  well  her  views 
on  the  question  of  militant  tactics ! 


SERBIA  185 

"The  first  stages  of  this  journey  were  made  in 
horse-boxes  with  no  accommodation  whatsoever. 
Occasionally  the  train  drew  up  in  the  middle  of  the 
country,  and  anybody  who  wished  to  get  out  had 
simply  to  ask  the  sentry  who  guarded  the  door,  to 
allow  them  to  get  out  for  a  moment. 

*'The  next  night  was  spent  lying  on  the  floor  of 
the  station  at  Belgrade,  the  eight  sentries  and  all 
their  charges  all  lying  on  the  floor  together;  the 
only  person  who  seemed  to  be  awake  was  the  officer 
who  guarded  the  door  himself  all  night.  In  the 
morning  one  was  not  allowed  to  go  even  to  wash 
one's  hands  without  a  sentry  to  come  and  stand  at 
the  door.  The  next  two  days  were  spent  in  an  or- 
dinary train  rather  too  well  heated  with  four  a  side 
in  second-class  compartments.  At  Vienna  all  the 
British  units  who  were  being  sent  away  were  formed 
into  a  group  on  the  station  at  6  A.M.,  where  they 
awaited  the  arrival  of  the  American  Consul,  guarded 
all  the  time  by  their  sentries,  who  gave  his  parole 
that  if  the  people  were  allowed  to  go  out  of  the 
station  they  would  return  at  eight  o'clock,  the  time 
they  had  to  leave  that  town.  This  was  granted. 
Dr.  Inglis  with  a  party  adjourned  to  a  hotel  where 
baths,  etc.,  were  provided.  Other  members  were 
allowed  to  do  what  they  liked. 

"The  unit  was  detained  for  eight  days  at  Blu- 
denz,  close  to  the  frontier,  for  Switzerland.  On 
their  arrival  at  Zurich  they  were  met  by  the  Brit- 
ish Consul-General,  Vice-Consul,  and  many  members 
of  the  British  Colony,  who  gave  Dr.  Inglis  and  her 


186  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

unit  a  very  warm-hearted  welcome,  bringing  quan- 
tities of  flowers,  and  doing  all  they  could  to  show 
them  kindness  and  pleasure  at  their  safe  arrival. 

*'It  is  difficult  for  people  who  have  never  been 
prisoners  to  know  what  the  first  day's  freedom 
means.  Everybody  had  a  different  expression,  and 
seemed  to  have  a  different  outlook  on  life.  But 
already  we  could  see  our  leader  was  engrossed  with 
plans  and  busy  with  schemes  for  the  future  work  of 
the  unit. 

"The  next  day  the  Consul-General  made  a  speech 
in  which  he  told  the  unit  all  that  had  passed  during 
the  last  four  months,  of  which  they  knew  nothing." 

To  her  Sister. 

"Brindisi,  en  route  for  Serbia, 
'April  28,   19 1 5. 

"The  boat  ought  to  have  left  last  night,  but  it 
did  not  even  come  in  till  this  morning.  However, 
we  have  only  lost  twenty-four  hours. 

"It  has  been  a  most  luxurious  journey,  except  the 
bit  from  Naples  here,  and  that  was  rather  awful, 
with  spitting  men  and  shut  windows,  in  first-class 
carriages,  remember.  When  we  got  here  we  im- 
mediately ordered  baths,  but  'the  boiler  was  broken.' 
So,  I  said,  'Well,  then,  we  must  go  somewhere  else' 
— with  the  result  that  we  were  promised  baths  in 
our  rooms  at  once.  That  was  a  nice  bath,  and  then 
I  curled  up  on  the  sofa  and  went  to  sleep.  Our 
windows  look  right  on  to  the  docks,  and  the  blue 
Mediterranean  beyond.     It  is  so  queer  to  see  the 


SERBIA  187 

red,  white,  and  green  flags,  and  to  think  they  mean 
Italy,  and  not  the  N.U.W.S.S. ! 

"I  went  out  before  dinner  last  night,  and  strolled 
through  the  quaint  streets.  The  whole  population 
was  out,  and  most  whole-hearted  and  openly  inter- 
ested in  my  uniform. 

"This  is  a  most  delightful  window,  with  all  the 
ships  and  the  colours.  There  are  three  men-of-war 
in,  and  half  a  dozen  of  the  quaintest  little  boats, 
which  a  soldier  told  me  were  'scouts.'  I  wished  I 
had  asked  a  sailor,  for  I  had  never  heard  of 
*scouts.'  The  soldier  I  asked  is  one  of  the  bersa- 
glieri  with  cock's  feathers,  a  huge  mass  of  them,  in 
his  hat.  They  all  say  Italy  is  certainly  coming  into 
the  war.  One  man  on  the  train  to  Rome  was  com- 
ing from  Cardiff  to  sell  coal  to  the  Italian  Gov- 
ernment. He  told  us  weird  stones  about  German 
tricks  to  get  our  coal  through  Spain  and  other  coun- 
tries. 

"It  was  a  pleasure  seeing  Royaumont.  It  is  a 
huge  success,  and  I  do  not  think  Dr.  Ivens  deserves  a 
lot  of  credit.  The  wards  and  the  theatre,  and  the 
X-Ray  department,  and  the  rooms  for  mending  and 
cleaning  the  men's  clothes  were  all  perfect." 

To  Mrs.  Simson, 

"S.  W.  H.,  Kragujevatz, 
"May  30/15. 

"Well,  this  is  a  perfectly  lovely  place,  and  the 

Serbians    are    delightful.     I    am    staying    with    a 

charming  woman,  Madame  Milanovitz.     She  is  a 


188  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

Vice-President  of  the  Serbian  Women's  League, 
formed  to  help  the  country  in  time  of  war.  I  think 
she  wanted  to  help  us  because  of  all  the  hospital  has 
done  here.  Anyhow,  /  score — I  have  a  beautiful 
room  and  everything.  She  gives  me  an  early  cup 
of  coffee,  and  for  the  rest  I  live  with  the  unit. 
Neither  she  nor  I  can  speak  six  words  of  one  an- 
other's languages,  but  her  husband  can  talk  a  little 
French.  Now,  she  has  asked  the  little  Serbian  lady 
who  teaches  the  unit  Serbian,  to  live  with  her  to 
interpret.     Anyhow,  we  are  great  friends  I 

"We  have  had  a  busy  time  since  we  arrived.  The 
unit  is  nursing  550  beds,  in  three  hospitals,  having 
been  sent  out  to  nurse  300  beds.  There  is  first  the 
surgical  hospital,  called  Reserve  No.  3.  It  was  a 
school,  and  is  in  two  blocks  with  a  long  courtyard 
between.  I  think  we  have  got  it  really  quite  well 
equipped,  with  a  fine  X-Ray  room.  The  theatre, 
and  the  room  opposite  where  the  dressings  are  done, 
both  very  well  arranged,  and  a  great  credit  to  Sis- 
ter Bozket.  The  one  thing  that  troubled  me  was 
the  floor — old  wood  and  holes  in  it,  impossible  to 
sterilise- — ^but  yesterday,  Major  Protitch,  our  Di- 
rector, said  he  was  going  to  get  cement  laid  down  in 
it  and  the  theatre.  Then  it  will  be  perfect.  He 
said  to  Dr.  Chesney,  'This  is  the  best  surgical  hos- 
pital in  Serbia.'  You  must  not  believe  that  quite, 
for  they  are  very  good  at  saying  pleasant  things 
here  I 

"There  are  two  other  hospitals,  the  typhus  one. 
No.  6  Reserve,  and  one  for  relapsing  fever  and  gen- 


SERBIA  189 

eral  diseases,  No.  7  Reserve,  both  barracks.  We 
have  put  most  of  our  strength  In  No.  6,  and  It  is  in 
good  working  order,  but  No.  7  has  had  only  one 
doctor,  and  two  day  Sisters  and  one  night,  for  over 
200  beds.  Still  it  is  wonderful  what  those  three 
women  have  done.  We  have  Austrian  prisoners  as 
orderhes  everywhere,  in  the  hospitals  and  in  the 
houses.  The  conglomeration  of  languages  is  too 
funny  for  words — Serbian,  German,  French,  Eng- 
lish. Sometimes,  you  have  to  get  an  orderly  to 
translate  Serbian  into  German,  and  another  to  trans- 
late the  German  into  French  before  you  can  get  at 
what  is  wanted.  Two  words  we  have  all  learnt, 
dotra,  which  means  'good,'  and  which  these  grate- 
ful people  use  at  once  If  they  feel  a  little  better,  or 
are  pleased  about  anything,  and  the  other  is  holt, 
pain — poor  men! 

"So  much  for  what  we  have  been  doing;  but  the 
day  before  yesterday  we  got  our  orders  for  a  new 
bit  of  work.  They  are  forming  a  disinfecting  cen- 
tre at  Mladanovatz,  and  Colonel  Grustltch,  who  is 
the  head  of  the  Medical  Service  here,  wants  us  to  go 
up  there  at  once,  with  our  whole  fever  staff,  under 
tcanvas.  They  are  giving  us  the  tents  till  ours  come 
out.  Typhus  is  decreasing  so  much,  that  No.  6  is 
to  be  turned  into  a  surgical  hospital,  and  there  will 
be  only  one  infectious  diseases  hospital  here.  I  am 
so  pleased  at  being  asked  to  do  this,  for  it  is  part 
of  a  big  and  well  thought  out  scheme.  The  surgical 
hospital  is  to  remain  here.  Alice  Hutchison  goes 
to  Posheravatz  also  for  infectious  diseases.    I  hope 


190  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

she  is  at  Salonika  to-day.  She  left  Malta  last  Sun« 
day.  We  really  began  to  think  the  Governor  was 
going  to  keep  her  altogether !  Her  equipment  has 
all  come,  and  yesterday  I  sent  Mrs.  Haverfield  and 
Mr.  Smith  up  to  Posheravatz  to  choose  the  site  and 
pitch  the  tent. 

*'They  gave  me  an  awfully  exciting  bit  of  news 
in  Colonel  G.'s  office  yesterday,  and  that  was  that 
five  motor  cars  were  in  Serbia,  north  of  Mladano- 
vatz,  for  me.  Of  course,  I  had  wired  for  six,  but 
you  have  been  prompt  about  them.  How  they  got 
into  the  north  of  Serbia  I  cannot  imagine,  unless 
they  were  dropped  out  of  aeroplanes. 

"Really,  it  is  wonderful  the  work  this  unit  has 
done  in  the  most  awful  stress  all  through  March 
and  April.  We  ought  to  be  awfully  proud  of  them. 
The  Serbian  Government  gave  Dr.  Soltau  a  decora- 
tion, and  Patsy  Hunter  had  two  medals. 

Ta  her  Niece,  Amy  M'Laren. 

"Valjevo,  August  1 6,  19 1 5. 
"Darling  Amy, — I  wonder  if  you  could  find 
this  place  on  the  map.  I  have  spelt  it  properly, 
but  if  you  want  to  say  it  you  must  say  Valuvo.  One 
of  the  hospitals  mother  has  been  collecting  so  much 
money  for  is  here.  Such  a  beautiful  hospital  it  is. 
It  is  in  tents,  on  a  bit  of  sloping  ground  looking 
south.  There  are  big  tents  for  the  patients,  and 
little  tents  for  the  staff.  I  pull  my  bed  out  of  the 
tent  every  night,  and  sleep  outside  under  the  stars. 
Such  lovely  starlight  nights  we  have  here.  Dr. 
Alice  Hutchison  is  head  of  this  unit,  and  I  am  here 


SERBIA  191' 

on  a  visit  to  her.  My  own  hospital  is  in  a  town — 
Kragujevatz.  Now,  I  wonder  if  you  can  find  that 
place?  The  hospital  there  is  in  a  girls'  school. 
Now — I  wonder  what  will  happen  to  the  lessons  of 
all  those  little  girls  as  long  as  the  war  lasts?  Serbia 
has  been  at  war  for  three  years,  four  wars  in  three 
years,  and  the  women  of  the  country  have  kept  the 
agriculture  of  the  country  going  all  that  time.  A 
Serbian  officer  told  me  the  other  day  that  the  country 
is  so  grateful  to  them,  that  they  are  going  to  strike 
a  special  medal  for  the  women  to  show  their  thanks, 
when  this  war  is  over.  This  is  such  a  beautiful 
country,  and  such  nice  people.  Some  day  when  the 
war  is  over,  we'll  come  here,  and  have  a  holiday. 
How  are  you  getting  on,  my  precious?  Is  school 
as  nice  as  ever?  God  bless  you,  dear  little  girlie. 
— Ever  your  loving  Aunt  Elsie." 

As  the  fever  died  out,  a  v^orse  enemy  came  in. 
Serbia  was  overrun  by  the  Austro-German 
forces,  and  she,  w^ith  others  of  her  units,  v^as 
taken  prisoner,  as  they  had  decided  it  was  their 
duty  to  remain  at  their  work  among  the  sick 
and  wounded. 

Again  the  Serbian  Minister  is  quoted: — 

"When  the  typhus  calamity  was  overcome,  the 
Scottish  women  reorganised  themselves  as  tent  hos- 
pitals and  offered  to  go  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
army  at  the  front.  Their  camp  in  the  town  of  Val- 
jevo — which  suffered  most  of  all  from  the  Austrian 


192  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

Invasion — might  have  stood  In  the  middle  of  Eng- 
land. In  Lazarevatz,  shortly  before  the  new  Aus- 
tro-German  offensive,  they  formed  a  surgical  hos- 
pital almost  out  of  nothing,  In  the  devastated  shops 
and  the  village  Inns,  and  they  accomplished  the  nurs- 
ing of  hundreds  of  wounded  who  poured  In  from 
the  battle-field.  When  It  became  obvious  that  the 
Serbian  army  could  not  resist  the  combined  Aus- 
trlans,  Germans,  Magyars,  and  Bulgarians,  who 
were  about  four  times  their  numbers,  the  main  care 
of  the  Serbian  military  authorities  was  what  to  do 
with  the  hospitals  full  of  wounded,  and  whom  to 
leave  with  the  wounded  soldiers,  who  refused  to  be 
left  to  fall  Into  the  hands  of  the  cruel  enemy.  Then 
the  Scottish  women  declared  that  they  were  not  go- 
ing to  leave  their  patients,  and  that  they  would  stay 
with  them,  whatever  the  conditions,  and  whatever 
might  be  expected  from  the  enemy.  They  remained 
with  the  Serbian  wounded  as  long  as  they  could  be 
of  use  to  them. 

To  Mrs.  Sim  son. 

"Krushieevatz,  Nov.  6,  19 15. 
"We  are  In  the  very  centre  of  the  storm,  and  it 
just  feels  exactly  like  having  the  rain  pouring  down, 
and  the  wind  beating  In  gusts,  and  not  being  able  to 
see  for  the  water  In  one's  eyes,  and  just  holding  on 
and  saying,  *It  cannot  last.  It  Is  so  bad.'  These  poor 
little  people,  you  cannot  imagine  anything  more  mis- 
erable than  they  are.  Remember,  they  have  been 
fighting  for  years  for  their  Independence,  and  now 


SERBIA  103 

It  all  seems  to  end.  The  whole  country  is  overrun. 
Germans,  Austrlans,  Bulgars,  and  all  that  Is  left  is 
this  western  Morava  Valley,  and  the  country  a  lit- 
tle south  of  it.  And  their  big  Allies — from  here  it 
looks  as  if  they  are  never  going  to  move.  I  went 
into  Craijuvo  yesterday,  in  the  car,  to  see  about  Dr. 
MacGregor's  unit.  The  road  was  crowded  with 
refugees  pouring  away,  all  their  goods  piled  on 
their  rickety  ox-wagons,  little  children  on  the  top, 
and  then  bands  of  soldiers,  stragglers  from  the 
army.  These  men  were  forming  up  again,  as  we 
passed  back  later  on.  The  hospitals  are  packed 
with  wounded.  We  decided  we  must  stand  by  our 
hospitals;  it  was  too  awful  leaving  badly  wounded 
men  with  no  proper  care.  Sir  Ralph  eventually 
agreed,  and  we  gave  everybody  In  the  units  the 
choice  of  going  or  staying.  We  have  about  il5j 
people  in  the  Scottish  unit,  and  twenty  have  gone. 
Mr.  Smith  brings  up  the  rear-guard  to-day,  with  one 
or  two  laggards  and  a  wounded  English  soldier  we 
have  had  charge  of.  Two  of  our  units  are  here. 
Dr.  MacGregor  has  trekked  for  Novl  Bazaar.  It 
Is  the  starting-place  for  Montenegro.  We  all 
managed  wonderfully  In  our  first  ^evacuations,*  and 
saved  practically  everything,  but  now  It  Is  hopeless. 
The  bridges  are  down,  and  the  trucks  standing  any- 
how on  sidings,  and,  worst  of  all,  the  people  have 
begun  looting.  I  don't  wonder.  There'll  be  famine, 
as  well  as  cold.  In  this  corner  of  the  world  soon, 
and  then  the  distant  prospect  of  150,000  British 
troops  at  Salonika  won't  help  much. 


194  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

*'Thc  beloved  British  troops, — the  thought  of 
them  always  cheers.  But  not  the  thought  of  the 
idiots  at  the  top  who  had  not  enough  gumption  to 
know  this  must  happen.  Anybody,  even  us  women, 
could  have  told  them  that  the  Germans  must  try  and 
break  through  to  the  help  of  the  Turks. 

''We  have  got  a  nice  building  here  for  a  hospital, 
and  Dr.  Holloway  is  helping  in  the  military  hos- 
pital. I  believe  there  are  about  looo  wounded  in 
the  place.  I  can't  write  a  very  interesting  letter. 
Amy  dear,  because  at  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I  don't 
believe  it  will  ever  reach  you.  I  don't  see  them 
managing  the  Montenegrin  passes  at  this  time  of 
year !  There  is  a  persistent  rumour  that  the  French 
have  retaken  Skopiro,  and  if  that  is  true  perhaps 
the  Salonika  route  will  be  open  soon. 

"Some  day,  I'll  tell  you  all  the  exciting  things 
that  have  been  happening,  and  all  the  funny  things 
too !  For  there  have  been  funny  things,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  all  the  sadness.  The  guns  are  booming  away, 
and  the  country  looking  so  lovely  in  the  sunlight.  I 
wonder  if  Serbia  is  a  particularly  beautiful  country, 
or  whether  it  looks  so  lovely  because  of  the  tragedy 
of  this  war,  just  as  bed  seems  particularly  delight- 
ful when  the  night  bell  goes!" 

"Serbian  Military  Hospital, 
"Krushieevatz,  Nov.  30,  19 15. 
"We  have  been  here   about  a   month.     It  was 
dreadfully  sad  work  leaving  our  beautiful  little  hos- 
pital at  Krushieevatz.    Here,  we  are  working  in  the 
Serbian  military  hospital,  and  living  in  it  also.     You 


SERBIA  19^ 

can  imagine  that  we  have  plenty  to  do,  when  you 
hear  we  have  900  wounded.  The  prisoners  are 
brought  in  every  day,  sometimes  thousands,  and  go 
on  to  the  north,  leaving  the  sick.  The  Director  has 
put  the  sanitation  and  the  laundry  into  our  hands 

also. 

''We  have  had  a  hard  frost  for  four  days  now, 
and  snowstorms.     My  warm  things  did  not  arrive 

I  suppose  they  are  safe  at  Salonika.     Fortunately 

last  year's  uniform  was  still  in  existence,  and  I  wear 
three  pairs  of  stockings,  with  my  high  boots.  We 
have  all  cut  our  skirts  short,  for  Serbian  mud  is 
awful.  It  is  a  lovely  land,  and  the  views  round 
here  are  very  cheering.  One  sunset  I  shall  never 
forget — a  glorious  sky,  and  the  hills  deep  blue 
against  it.  In  the  foreground  the  camp  fires,  and 
the  prisoners  round  them  in  the  fading  light." 

With  the  invasion  came  the  question  of 
evacuation.  At  one  time  it  was  possible  the 
whole  of  the  British  unit  might  escape  via 
Montenegro.  Sir  Ralph  Paget,  realising  that 
the  equipment  could  not  be  saved,  allowed  any 
of  the  hospital  unit  who  wished  to  remain  with 
their  wounded.  Two  parties  went  with  the 
retreating  Serbs,  and  their  story  and  the  ex- 
traordinary hardships  they  endured  has  been 
told  elsewhere. 

Those  left  at  Krushieevatz  were  in  Dr.  inglis' 
opinion  the  fortunate  units.     For  three  months 


196  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

they  tended  the  Serbian  wounded  under  foreign 
occupation.  The  unit  with  Dr.  Inglis  kept  to 
their  work,  and  when  necessary  confronted  the 
Austro-German  officers  with  all  the  audacity 
of  their  leader  and  the  Scottish  thistle  com- 
bined. 

Their  hospital  accommodation  was  designed 
for  400  beds.  When  we  went  up  there  were 
900  patients.  During  the  greatest  part  of  the 
pressure  the  number  rose  to  1200.  Patients 
were  placed  in  the  corridors — at  first  one  man 
to  one  bed,  but  later  two  beds  together,  and 
three  men  in  them.  Then  there  were  no  more 
bedsteads,  and  mattresses  were  placed  on  the 
floor.  We  filled  up  the  outhouses.  The  maga- 
zine in  full  blast  was  a  sight,  once  seen,  never 
to  be  forgotten. 

Upstairs  the  patients  occupied  the  shelving. 
There  were  three  tiers,  the  slightly  wounded 
men  in  the  highest  tier.  The  magazine  was 
under  Dr.  HoUoway,  and  Dr.  Inglis  says  the 
time  to  see  the  place  at  its  best  or  its  worst  was 
in  the  gloaming,  when  two  or  three  feeble  oil 
lamps  illuminated  the  gloom,  and  the  tin  bowls 
clattered  and  rattled  as  the  evening  ration  of 
beans  was  given  out,  and  the  men  swarmed  up 
and  down  the  poles  of  their  shelves  chattering 
as  Serbs  will  chatter.  The  Sisters  called  the 
place  "the  Zoo." 


SERBIA  197 

The  dread  of  the  renewal  of  the  typhus 
scourge,  amid  such  conditions  of  overcrowding, 
underfeeding,  fatigue  and  depression,  was  great. 
Dr.  Inglis  details  the  appalling  tasks  the  unit 
undertook  in  sanitation.  There  was  no  expert 
amongst  them: — 

*'When  we  arrived,  the  hospital  compound  was  a 
truly  terrible  place — the  sights  and  smells  beyond 
description.  We  dug  the  rubbish  into  the  ground, 
emptied  the  overflowing  cesspool,  built  incinerators, 
and  cleaned,  and  cleaned,  and  cleaned.  That  is  an 
Englishman's  job  all  over  the  world.  Our  three  un- 
trained English  girl  orderlies  took  to  it  like  ducks 
to  water.  It  was  not  the  pleasantest  or  easiest  work 
in  the  world;  but  they  did  it,  and  did  it  magnificently. 

"Laundry  and  bathing  arrangements  were  in- 
stalled and  kept  going.  We  had  not  a  single  case  of 
typhus ;  w^e  had  a  greater  achievement  than  its  pre- 
vention. Late  of  an  evening,  when  men  among 
the  prisoners  were  put  into  the  wards,  straight  from 
the  march,  unwashed  and  crawling  with  lice,  there 
was  great  indignation  among  the  patients  already 
In.  'Doktoritza,'  they  said,  'if  you  put  these  dirty 
men  in  among  us  we  shall  all  get  t}^hus.'  Our 
hearts  rejoiced.  If  we  have  done  nothing  else,  we 
thought,  we  have  driven  that  fact  home  to  the  Ser- 
bian mind  that  dirt  and  typhus  go  together." 

Dr.  Inglis  describes  the  misery  of  the  Serbian 
prisoners: — 


198  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

"They  had  seen  men  go  out  to  battle,  conscious 
of  the  good  work  they  had  done  for  the  Allies  in 
driving  back  the  Austrians  in  their  first  punitive  ex- 
pedition. We  are  the  only  ones  who,  so  far,  have 
beaten  our  enemy.  They  came  back  to  us  broken 
and  dispirited.  They  were  turned  into  the  hospital 
grounds,  with  a  scanty  ration  of  beans,  with  a  lit- 
tle meat  and  half  a  loaf  of  bread  for  twenty-four 
hours.  Their  camp  fires  flickered  fitfully  through 
the  long  bitter  cold  nights.  Every  scrap  of  wood 
was  torn  up,  the  foot  bridges  over  the  drains,  and 
the  trees  hacked  down  for  firewood.  We  added  to 
the  rations  of  our  sanitary  workers,  we  gave  away 
all  the  bread  we  could,  but  we  could  not  feed  that 
enclosure  of  hungry  men.  We  used  to  hear  them 
coughing  and  moaning  all  night." 

Dr.  Inglis  details  the  starving  condition  of 
the  whole  country,  the  weakness  of  the  famine- 
stricken  men  who  worked  for  them,  the  starved 
yoke  oxen,  and  all  the  manifold  miseries  of  a 
country  overrun  by  the  enemy. 

"There  was,"  she  says,  "a  curious  exhilaration 
in  working  for  those  grateful  patient  men,  and  in 
helping  the  director.  Major  Nicolitch,  so  loyal  to 
his  country  and  so  conscientious  in  his  work,  to  bring 
order  out  of  chaos,  and  yet  the  unhappiness  in  the 
Serbian  houses,  and  the  physical  wretchedness  of 
those  cold  hungry  prisoners  lay  always  like  a  dead 
weight  on  our  spirit.  Never  shall  we  forget  the 
beauty  of  the  sunrises,  or  the  glory  of  the  sunsets, 


SERBIA  199 

with  clear,  cold  sunlit  days  between,  and  the  won- 
derful starlit  nights.  But  we  shall  never  forget 
*the  Zoo'  either,  or  the  groans  outside  the  windows 
when  we  hid  our  heads  under  the  blankets  to  shut 
out  the  sound.  The  unit  got  no  news,  and  they 
made  it  a  point  of  honour  to  believe  nothing  said  in 
the  German  telegrams.  We  could  not  believe  Ser- 
bia had  been  sacrificed  for  nothing.  We  were  con- 
vinced it  was  some  deep  laid  scheme  for  weakening 
other  fronts,  and  so  it  was  natural  to  believe  ru- 
mours, such  as  that  the  English  had  taken  Belgium, 
and  the  French  were  in  Metz. 

''The  end  of  the  five  months  of  service  in  captivity, 
and  to  captive  Serbs  ended.  On  the  nth  Febru- 
ary, 19 1 6,  they  were  sent  north  under  an  Austrian 
guard  with  fixed  bayonets,  thus  to  Vienna,  and  so  by 
slow  stages  they  came  to  Zurich. 

"It  was  a  great  thing  to  be  once  more  'home'  and 
to  realise  how  strong  and  straight  and  fearless  a 
people  inhabit  these  islands :  to  realise  not  so  much 
that  they  mean  to  win  the  war,  but  rather  that  they 
consider  any  other  issue  impossible." 

So  Dr.  Inglis  came  back  to  plan  new  cam- 
paigns for  the  help  of  the  Serbian  people,  who 
lay  night  and  day  upon  her  heart.  She  knew 
she  had  the  backing  of  the  Suffrage  societies, 
and  she  intended  to  get  the  ear  of  the  English 
public  for  the  cause  of  the  Allies  in  the  Bal- 
kans. "We,"  who  had  sent  her  out,  found  her 
changed  in  many  ways.      Physically  she  had 


200  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

altered  much,  and  if  we  could  ever  have  thought 
of  the  body  in  the  presence  of  that  dauntless 
spirit,  we  might  have  seen  that  the  Angel  of 
Shadows  was  not  far  away.  The  privations 
and  sufferings  she  described  so  well  when  she 
had  to  speak  of  her  beloved  Serbs  had  been 
fully  shared  by  the  unit.  Their  comfort  was 
always  her  thought;  she  never  would  have  any- 
thing that  could  not  be  shared  and  shared  alike, 
but  there  was  little  but  hardship  to  share,  and 
one  and  all  scorned  to  speak  of  privations  which 
were  a  light  affliction  compared  to  those  of  a 
whole  nation  groaning  and  waiting  to  be  re- 
deemed from  its  great  tribulation. 

There  was  a  look  in  her  face  of  one  whose 
spirit  had  been  pierced  by  the  sword.  The 
brightness  of  her  eyes  was  dimmed,  for  she  had 
seen  the  days  when  His  judgments  were  a'broad 
upon  the  earth: — 

"Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  the  coming  of  the 

Lord; 
He  is  trampling  out  the  vintage  vv^here  the  grapes  of 

wrath  are  stored; 
He  has  loosed  the  fatal  lightning  of  His  terrible  swift 

sword : 
I  have  seen  Him  in  the  watch-fires  of  a  hundred  circling 

camps ; 
They  have  builded  Him  an  altar  in  the  evening  dews 

and  damps; 
I  have  read   His  righteous  sentence  by  the  dim  and 

flaring  lamps." 


SERBIA  201 

She  could  never  forget  the  tragedy  of  Serbia, 
and  she  came  home,  not  to  rest,  but  vowed  to 
yet  greater  endeavours  for  their  \felfare.  The 
attitude  of  the  Allies  she  did  not  pretend  to 
understand.  She  had  something  of  the  spirit 
of  Oliver  Cromwell,  when  he  threatened  to 
send  his  fleet  across  the  Alps  to  help  the  Wal- 
densians.  In  her  public  speeches,  when  she  set 
forth  what  in  her  outlook  could  have  been  done, 
no  censor  cut  out  the  sentences  which  were 
touched  by  the  live  coals  from  off  her  altar  of 
service.  Dr.  Elsie  never  recognised  the  word 
"impossible"  for  herself,  and  for  her  work  that 
was  well.  As  to  her  political  and  military  out- 
look, the  story  of  the  nations  will  find  it  a  place 
in  the  history  of  the  war. 

For  a  few  months  she  worked  from  the  bases 
of  her  two  loyal  Committees  in  London  and 
Edinburgh.  She  spoke  at  many  a  public  meet- 
ing, and  filled  many  a  drawing-room.  The 
Church  of  Scotland  knew  her  presence  in  Lon- 
don. "One  of  our  most  treasured  memories  wall 
be  that  keen,  clever  face  of  hers  in  St.  Columba's 
of  a  Sunday — with  the  far,  wistful  melancholy 
in  it,  added  to  its  firm  determination."  So 
writes  the  minister.  "We"  knew  what  lay  be- 
hind the  wistful  brave  eyes,  a  yet  more  com- 
plete dedication  to  the  service  of  her  Serbian 
brethren. 


CHAPTER  X 

RUSSIA 

1917 

"Even  so  in  our  mortal  journey, 
The  bitter  north  winds  blow, 
And  thus  upon  life's  red  river, 
Our  hearts  as  oarsmen  row. 

And  when  the  Angel  of  Shadow 

Rests  his  feet  on  wave  and  shore, 
And  our  eyes  grow  dim  with  watching, 

And  our  hearts  faint  at  the  oar, 

Happy  is  he  who  heareth 

The  signal  of  his  release 
In  the  bells  of  the  holy  city 

The  chimes  of  eternal  peace." 

Dr  Inglis'  return  to  England  was  the  signal 
for  renewed  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  Commit- 
tees managing  the  S.W.H.  This  memoir  has 
necessarily  to  follow  the  personality  of  the 
leader,  but  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  her 
strength  and  all  her  sinews  of  war  lay  in  the 
work  of  those  who  carried  on  at  home,  week 
by  week.  Strong  committees  of  women,  ably 
organised  and  thoroughly  staffed,  took  over  the 

202 


RUSSIA  203 

burden  of  finance — a  matter  Dr.  Inglis  once 
amusingly  said,  ''did  not  interest  her."  They 
found  and  selected  the  personnel  on  which  suc- 
cess so  much  depended,  they  contracted  for  and 
supervised  the  sending  out  of  immense  consign- 
ments of  equipment  and  motor  transport.  They 
dealt  with  the  Government  department,  and  in 
loyal  devotion  smoothed  every  possible  obstacle 
out  of  the  path  of  those  flying  squadrons,  the 
units  of  the  S.W.H. 

It  was  inevitable  the  quick  brain  and  tenacious 
energy  of  Dr.  Inglis,  far  away  from  the  base  of 
her  operations,  should  at  times  have  found  it 
hard  to  understand  why  the  wheels  occasionally 
seemed  to  drag,  and  the  new  eflfort  she  desired 
to  make  did  not  move  at  the  pace  which  to  her 
eager  spirit  seemed  possible.  Two  enterprises 
filled  her  mind  on  her  return  in  1916.  One,  by 
the  help  of  the  London  Committee,  she  put 
through.  This  w^as  the  celebration  of  Kossovo 
Day  in  Great  Britain.  The  flag-day  of  the  Ser- 
bian Patriot  King  was  under  her  chairmanship 
prepared  for  in  six  weeks.  Hundreds  of  lec- 
tures on  the  history  of  Serbia  were  arranged  for 
and  delivered  throughout  the  country,  and  no 
one  failed  to  do  her  work,  however  remote  they 
might  think  the  prospect  of  making  the  British 
people  interested  in  a  country  and  patriot  so  far 
from  the  ken  of  their  island  isolation. 


^04  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

Kossovo  Day  was  a  success,  and  through  the 
rush  of  the  work  Dr.  Inglis  was  planning  the 
last  and  most  arduous  of  all  the  undertakings 
of  the  S.W.H.,  that  of  the  unit  which  was  to 
serve  with  the  Serbian  Volunteers  on  the  Ru- 
manian Russian  front.  Dr.  Inglis  knew  from  pri- 
vate sources  the  lack  of  hospital  arrangements  in 
Mesopotamia,  and  she,  with  the  backing  of  the 
Committees,  had  approached  the  authorities  for 
leave  to  take  a  fully  equipped  unit  to  Basra. 
When  the  story  of  the  Scottish  Women's  Hos- 
pital is  written,  the  correspondence  between  the 
War  Office,  the  Foreign  Office,  and  S.W.H. 
will  throw  a  tragic  light  on  this  lamentable 
episode,  and,  read  with  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittees, it  will  prove  how  quick  and  foreseeing 
of  trouble  v/as  her  outlook.  As  soon  as  Dr. 
Inglis  brought  her  units  back  from  Serbia,  she 
again  urged  the  War  Office  to  send  her  out. 
Of  her  treatment  by  the  War  Office,  Mrs.  Faw- 
cett  writes:  ^^She  was  not  only  refused,  but  re- 
fused with  contumely  and  insult." 

True  to  her  instinct  never  to  pause  over  a  set- 
back, she  lost  no  time  in  pressing  on  her  last 
enterprise  for  the  Serbians.  M.  Curcin,  in  The 
Englishwoman^  says: — 

"She  was  already  acquainted  with  one  side  of  the 
Serbian  problem- — Serbia;  she  was  told  that  in  Rus- 


RUSSIA  205 

sla  there  was  the  best  opportunity  to  learn  about 
the  second  half — the  Serbs  of  Austria,  the  Jugo- 
slavs. In  six  weeks  Dr.  Inglis  succeeded  in  raising 
a  hospital  unit  and  transport  section  staffed  by 
eighty  women  heroes  of  the  Scottish  Women's  Hos- 
pitals to  start  with  her  on  a  most  adventurous  un- 
dertaking, via  Archangel,  through  Russia  to  Odessa 
and  the  Dobrudja.  Dr.  Inglis  succeeded  also — 
most  difficult  of  all — in  getting  permission  from  the 
British  authorities  for  the  journey.  Eye-witnesses 
— officers  and  soldiers — tell  everybody  to-day  how 
those  women  descended,  practically  straight  from 
the  railway  carriages,  after  forty  days'  travelling, 
beside  the  stretchers  with  wounded,  and  helped  to 
dress  the  wounds  of  those  who  had  had  to  defend  the 
centre  and  also  a  wing  of  the  retreating  army.  For 
fifteen  months  she  remained  with  those  men,  whose 
role  is  not  yet  fully  realised,  but  is  certain  to  become 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  and  characteristic  facts 
of  the  conflagration  of  nations.'* 

The  Edinburgh  Committee  had  already  so 
many  undertakings  on  behalf  of  the  S.W.H. 
that  they  gladly  allowed  the  Committee  formed 
by  the  London  Branch  of  the  N.U.W.S.S.  to 
undertake  the  vv^hole  work  of  organising  this 
last  adventure  for  the  Serbian  Army.  It  was  as 
their  Commissioner  that  Dr.  Inglis  and  her  unit 
sailed  the  wintry  main,  and  to  them  she  sent  the 
voluminous  and  brilliant  reports  of  her  work. 
When  the  Russian   revolution  imperilled   the 


S06  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

safety  of  the  Serbian  Army  on  the  Rumanian 
front,  she  sent  home  members  of  her  unit, 
charged  with  important  verbal  messages  to  her 
Government.  Through  the  last  anxious  month, 
when  communications  were  cut  off,  short  mes- 
sages, unmistakably  her  own,  came  back  to  the 
London  Committee,  that  they  might  order  her 
to  return.  She  would  come  with  the  Serbian 
Army  and  not  without  them.  We  at  home  had 
to  rest  on  the  assurances  of  the  Foreign  Office, 
always  alive  to  the  care  and  encouragement  of 
the  S.W.H.,  that  Dr.  Inglis  and  her  unit  were 
safe,  and  that  their  return  would  be  expedited 
at  the  safest  hour.  .  In  those  assurances  we  learnt 
to  rest,  and  the  British  Government  did  not  fail 
that  allied  force — the  Serbian  Army  and  the 
Scottish  women  serving  them.  The  following 
letters  were  those  written  to  her  family  with 
notes  from  her  graphic  report  to  her  Commit- 
tees. The  clear  style  and  beautiful  handwrit- 
ing never  changed  even  in  those  last  days,  when 
those  who  were  with  her  knew  that  nothing  but 
the  spirit  kept  the  wasted  body  at  its  work. 
*'The  Serbian  Division  is  superb;  we  are  proud 
to  be  attached  to  it.''  These  were  the  last  words 
in  her  last  letter  from  Odessa  in  June  1917. 
That  pride  of  service  runs  through  all  the  cor- 
respondence. The  spirit  she  inspired  is  note- 
worthy in  a  book  which  covers  the  greater  part 


RUSSIA  207 

of  these  fifteen  months,  With  the  Scottish  Nurses 
in  Rumania,  by  Yvonne  Fitzroy.  In  a  daily 
diary  a  searchlight  is  allowed  to  fall  on  some 
of  the  experiences  borne  with  such  high-hearted 
nonchalance  by  the  leader  and  her  gallant 
disciples. 

Mrs.  Haverfield,  who  saw  her  work,  writes: 

*'It  was  perfectly  incredible  that  one  human  being 
could  do  the  work  she  accomplished.  Her  record 
piece  of  work  perhaps  was  at  Galatz,  Rumania,  at 
the  end  of  the  retreat.  There  were  masses  and 
masses  of  wounded,  and  she  and  her  doctors  and 
nurses  performed  operations  and  dressings  for  fifty- 
eight  hours  out  of  sixty-three.  Dr.  Scott,  of  the 
armoured  cars,  noted  the  time,  and  when  he  told 
her  how  long  she  had  been  working,  she  simply  said, 
Well,  it  was  all  due  to  Mrs.  Milne,  the  cook,  who 
kept  us  supplied  with  hot  soup.'  She  had  been  very 
tired  for  a  long  time;  undoubtedly  the  lack  of  food, 
the  necessity  of  sleeping  on  the  floor,  and  nursing 
her  patients  all  the  time  told  on  her  health.  In 
Russia  she  was  getting  gradually  more  tired  until 
she  became  ill.  When  she  was  the  least  bit  better 
she  was  up  again,  and  all  the  time  she  attended  to 
the  business  of  the  unit. 

*'Just  before  getting  home  she  had  a  relapse,  and 
the  last  two  or  three  days  on  board  ship,  we  know 
now,  she  was  dying.  She  made  all  the  arrangements 
for  the  unit  which  she  brought  with  her,  however, 
and  interviewed  every  member  of  it.     To  Miss  On- 


W8  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

slow,  her  transport  officer,  she  said,  when  she  ar- 
rived at  Newcastle,  'I  shall  be  up  in  London  in  a 
few  days'  time,  and  we  will  talk  the  matter  of  a  new 
unit  over/  Miss  Onslow  turned  away  with  tears 
in  her  eyes." 

**H.M.  Transport , 

''Sep.  6,  19 1 6. 

"Dearest  Amy, — Here  we  are  more  than  half 
way  through  our  voyage.  We  got  off  eventually  on 
Wednesday  night,  and  lay  all  Thursday  in  the  river. 
You  never  in  your  life  saw  such  a  filthy  boat  as  this 
was  when  we  came  on  board.  The  captain  had  been 
taken  off  an  American  liner  the  day  before.  The 
only  officer  who  had  been  on  this  boat  before  was 
the  engineer  officer.  All  the  rest  were  new.  The 
crew  were  drunk  to  a  man,  and,  as  the  Transport 
officer  said,  'The  only  way  to  get  this  ship  right,  is 
to  get  her  out/  So  we  got  out.  I  must  say  we  got 
into  shape  very  quickly.  We  cleaned  up,  and  now 
we  are  painting.  They  won't  know  her  when  she 
gets  back.  She  is  an  Austrian  Lloyd  captured  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  she  has  been  trooping 
in  the  Mediterranean  since.  She  was  up  at  Glas- 
gow for  this  new  start,  but  she  struck  the  Glasgow 
Fair,  and  could  therefore  get  nothing  done,  so  she 
was  brought  down  to  the  port  we  started  from— 
as  she  was.  We  are  a  wonderful  people !  The 
captain  seems  to  be  an  awfully  good  man.  He  is 
Scotch,  and  was  on  the  Anchor  Line  to  Bombay. 
This  is  quite  a  tiny  little  boat.  She  has  all  our 
equipment,  fourteen  of  our  cars.     For  passengers, 


RUSSIA  209 

there  are  ourselves,  seventy-five  people,  and  three 
Serbian  ofiicers,  and  the  mother  and  sister  of  one 
of  them,  and  thirty-two  Serbian  non-commissioned 
officers.     They  are  going  to  our  Division. 

"The  cabins  are  most  comfortable.  On  the 
saloon  deck  there  are  twenty-two  very  small,  single 
cabins.  And  on  this  deck  larger  cabins  with  either 
three  or  four  berths.  I  am  on  this  deck  In  the  most 
luxurious  quarters.  It  is  called  The  Commanding 
Officer's  Cabin  (ahem).  There  is  a  huge  cabin 
with  one  berth;  off  It  on  one  side  another  cabin  with 
a  writing-table  and  sofa,  and  off  it  on  the  other  side 
a  bathroom  and  dressing-room!  Of  course,  if  we 
had  had  rough  weather,  and  the  ports  had  had  to 
be  closed,  it  would  not  have  been  so  nice,  especially 
as  the  glass  in  all  the  portholes  is  blackened,  but 
we  have  had  perfectly  glorious  weather.  At  night 
every  porthole  and  window  is  closed  to  shut  in  the 
light,  but  the  whole  ship  is  very  well  ventilated.  A 
good  many  of  them  sleep  up  in  the  boats,  or  in  one 
of  the  lorries. 

"We  sighted  one  submarine,  but  it  took  no  notice 
of  us,  so  we  took  no  notice  of  it.  We  had  all  our 
boats  allotted  to  us  the  very  first  day.  We  divided 
the  unit  among  them,  putting  one  responsible  person 
in  charge  of  each,  and  had  boat  drill  several  times. 
Then  one  day  the  captain  sounded  the  alarm  for 
practice,  and  everybody  was  at  their  station  in  three 
minutes  in  greatcoat  and  life-belt.  The  amusing 
thing  was  that  some  of  them  thought  It  was  a  real 
alarm,  and  w^ere  most  annoyed  and  disappointed  to 


glO  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

find  there  was  not  a  submarine  really  there!  The 
unit  as  a  whole  seems  very  nice  and  capable,  though 
there  are  one  or  two  queer  characters  I  But  most 
of  them  are  healthy,  wholesome  bricks  of  girls.  I 
hope  we  shall  get  on  all  right.  Of  course  a  field 
hospital  is  quite  a  new  bit  of  work. 

*'We  reach  our  port  of  disembarkation  this  after- 
noon. The  voyage  has  been  a  most  pleasant  one 
in  every  way.  As  soon  as  sea-sickness  was  over 
the  unit  developed  a  tremendous  amount  of  energy, 
and  we  have  had  games  on  deck,  and  concerts,  and 
sports,  and  a  fancy  dress  competition !  All  this  in 
addition  to  drill  every  morning,  which  was  com- 
pulsory. 

"We  began  the  day  at  8.30 — ^breakfast,  the  cabins 
were  tidied.  9.30 — roll  call  and  cabin  inspection 
immediately  after;  then  drill — ordinary  drill, 
stretcher  drill,  and  Swedish  drill  in  sections.  Lunch 
was  at  12.30,  and  then  there  were  lessons  in  Rus- 
sian, Serbian,  and  French,  to  which  they  could  go 
if  they  liked,  and  most  of  them  took  one,  or  even 
two,  and  lectures  on  motor  construction,  etc.  Tea  at 
4,  and  dinner  6.30.  You  would  have  thought  there 
was  not  much  time  for  anything  else,  but  the  su- 
perfluous energy  of  a  British  unit  manages  to  put 
a  good  deal  more  in.  (The  head  of  a  British  unit 
in  Serbia  once  said  to  me  that  tlie  chief  duty  of  the 
head  of  a  British  unit  was  to  use  up  the  superfluous 
energy  of  the  unit  in  harmless  ways.  He  said  that 
the  only  time  there  was  no  superfluous  energy  was 
when  the  unit  was  overworking.     That  was  the  time 


RUSSIA  ^11 

I  found  that  particular  unit  playing  rounders ! )     The 
sports  were  most  amusing.     I  was  standing  next  to 
a  Serb  officer  during  the  obstacle  race,  and  he  sud- 
denly turned  to  me  and  said,  'C'est  tout-a-fait  nou- 
veau  pour  nous,  Madame.'     I  thought  It  must  be, 
for  at  that  moment  they  were  getting  under  a  sail 
which  had  been  tied  down  to  the  deck — two  of  them 
hurled  themselves  on  the  sail  and  dived  under  It, 
you  saw  four  legs  kicking  wildly,  and  then  the  sail 
heaved    and    fell,    and    two    dishevelled    creatures 
emerged  at  the  other  side,  and  tore  at  two  life-belts 
which  they  went  through,  and  so  on.     I  should  think 
it  was   indeed   tout-a-fait   nouveau.     Some    of  the 
dresses  at  the  fancy  dress  competition  were  most 
clever.     There  was  Napoleon — the  last  phase,  in 
the  captain's  long  coat  and  somebody's  epaulettes, 
and  one  of  our  grey  hats,  side  to  the  front,  excel- 
lent; and  Tweedledum  and  Tweedledee,  in  sauce- 
pans and  life-belts.     One  of  them  got  herself  up  as 
a  'greaser,'  and  went  down  to  the  engine-room  to 
get  properly  dirty,  with  such  successful  result  that, 
when  she  was  coming  up  to  the  saloon,  with  her  lit- 
tle oiling  can  in  her  hand,  one  of  the  officers  stopped 
her  with,  'Now,  where  are  you  going  to,  my  lad?' 

"We  ended  up  with  all  the  allied  National  An- 
thems, the  Serbs  leading  their  own. 

"I  do  love  to  see  them  enjoying  themselves,  and 
to  hear  them  chattering  and  laughing  along  the  pas- 
sages, for  they'll  have  plenty  of  hard  work  later. 
We  had  service  on  Sunday,  which  I  took,  as  the  cap- 
tain could  not  come  down.     Could  you  get  us  some 


212  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

copies  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury's  war  pray- 
ers? We  have  just  had  our  photograph  taken. 
The  captain  declares  he  was  snap-shotted  six  times 
one  morning.  I  don't  know  if  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment will  let  us  take  all  these  cameras  with  us.  We 
are  flying  the  Union  Jack  for  the  first  time  to-day 
since  we  came  out.  It  is  good  to  know  you  are  all 
thinking  of  us. — Ever  your  loving  sister, 

"Elsie  Maud  Inglis.** 

"On  the  Train  to  Moscow, 

"Sep.  14,  19 16. 

"Dearest  Amy, — Here  we  are  well  on  our  way 
to  Moscow,  having  got  through  Archangel  in  2j^ 
days — a  feat,  for  we  were  told  at  home  that  it  might 
be  six  weeks.  They  did  not  know  that  there  is  a 
party  of  our  naval  men  there  helping  the  Russians, 
and  Archangel  is  magnificently  organised  now. 

"When  one  realises  that  the  population  was  5000 
before  the  war,  and  is  now  20,000,  it  is  quite  clear 
there  was  bound  to  be  some  disorganisation  at  first. 

"I  never  met  a  kinder  set  of  people  than  are  col- 
lected at  Archangel  just  now.  They  simply  did 
everything  for  us,  and  sent  us  off  in  a  train  with  a 
berth  for  each  person,  and  gave  us  a  wonderful 
send  off.  The  Russian  Admiral  gave  us  a  letter 
which  acts  as  a  kind  of  magic  ring  whenever  it  is 
produced.  The  first  time  it  was  really  quite  star- 
tling. We  were  longing  for  Nyamdonia  where  we 
were  to  get  dinner.  We  were  told  we  should  be 
there  at  four  o'clock,  then  at  five,  and  at  six  o'clock 
we  pulled  up  at  a  place  unknown,  and  rumours  be- 


RUSSIA  213 

gan  to  spread  that  our  engine  was  off,   and  sure 
enough  it  was,  and  was  shunting  trucks.     Miss  Lit- 
tle, one  of  our  Russian-speaking  people,  and  I  got 
out.     We  tried  our  united  eloquence,  she  in  fluent 
Russian,  and  I  saying,  Shechaz,  which  means  'im- 
mediately' at  intervals,  and  still  they  looked  help- 
less and  said,  'Two  hours  and  a  half.'     Then  I  pro- 
duced my  letter,  and  you  never  saw  such  a  change. 
They  said,  'Five  minutes,'  and  we  were  off  in  three. 
We  tried  it  all  along  the  line  after  that;  my  own 
belief  is  that  we  should  still  be  at  the  unknown  place, 
without  that  letter,  shunting  trucks.     At  one  station, 
Miss  Little  heard  the  station-master  saying,  'There 
is  a  great  row  going  on  here,  and  there  will  be 
trouble  to-morrow  if  this  train  isn't  got  through.* 
Eventually,  we  reached  Nyamdonia  at  11.30,  and 
found  a  delightful  Russian  officer,  and  an  excellent 
dinner  paid  for  by  the  Russian  Government,  wait- 
ing for  us.     We  all  thought  the  food  very  good,  and 
I  thought  the  sauce  of  hunger  helped.     The  next 
day,   profiting  over  our  Nyamdonia   experience,   I 
said  meals  were  to  be  had  at  regular  times  from  our 
stores  in  the  train,  and  we  should  take  the  restau- 
rants as  we  found  them,  with  the  result  that  we  ar- 
rived at  Vorega,  where  dejeuner  had  been  ordered 
just  as  we  finished  a  solid  lunch  of  ham  and  eggs. 
I  said  they  had  better  go  out  and  have  two  more 
courses,    which   they   did   with   great   content,    and 
found  it  quite  as  nice  as  the  night  before. 

"This  is  a  special  train  for  us  and  the  Serbian  of- 
ficers and  non-coms.     We  broke  a  coupling  after  we 


214*  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

left  Nyamdonia,  and  they  sent  out  another  carriage 
from  there,  but  it  had  not  top  berths,  so  they  had 
another  sleeper  ready  when  we  reached  Vologda. 
They  gave  us  another  and  stronger  engine  at  Nyam- 
donia, because  we  asked  for  it,  and  have  repaired 
cisterns,  and  given  us  chickens  and  eggs;  and  when 
we  thank  them,  they  say,  ^It  is  for  our  friends.' 
The  crowd  stand  round  three  deep  while  we  eat,  and 
watch  us  all  the  time,  quite  silently  in  the  stations. 
In  Archangel  one  old  man  asked,  'Who,  on  God's 
€arth,  are  you?' 

"They  gave  us  such  a  send-off  from  Archangel! 
Russian  soldiers  were  drawn  up  between  the  ship 
and  the  train,  and  cheered  us  the  whole  way,  with  a 
regular  British  cheer;  our  own  crew  turned  out 
with  a  drum  and  a  fife  and  various  other  instru- 
ments, and  marched  about  singing.  Then  they  made 
speeches,  and  cheered  everybody,  and  then  suddenly 
the  Russian  soldiers  seized  the  Serbian  officers  and 
tossed  them  up  and  down,  up  and  down,  till  they 
were  stopped  by  a  whistle.  But  they  had  got  into 
the  mood  by  then,  and  they  rushed  at  me.  You  can 
Imagine,  I  fled,  and  seized  hold  of  the  British  Con- 
sul. I  did  think  the  British  Empire  would  stand 
by  me,  but  he  would  do  nothing  but  laugh.  And  I 
found  myself  up  in  the  air  above  the  crowd,  up  and 
down,  quite  safe,  hands  under  one  and  round  one. 
They  were  so  happy  that  I  waved  my  hand  to  them, 
and  they  shouted  and  cheered.  The  unit  is  only 
annoyed  that  they  had  not  their  cameras,  and  that 
anyhow  it  was  dark.      Then  they  tossed  Captain 


RUSSIA  215 

Bevan,  who  is  in  command  there,  because  he  was 
English,  and  the  Consul  for  the  same  reason,  and  the 
captain  of  the  transport  because  he  had  brought 
us  out.  We  sang  all  the  national  anthems,  and 
then  they  danced  for  us.  It  was  a  weird  sight  in 
the  moonlight.  Some  of  the  dances  were  like  Indian 
ones,  and  some  reminded  me  of  our  Highland  flings. 
We  went  on  till  one  in  the  morning — all  the  British 
colony,  there.  I  confess,  I  was  tired — though  I  did 
enjoy  it.  Captain  Bevan's  good-bye  was  the  nicest 
and  so  unexpected — simply  'God  bless  you.*  Mrs. 
Young,  the  Consul's  wife,  Mrs.  Kerr,  both  Rus- 
sians, simply  gave  up  their  whole  time  to  us,  took 
the  girls  about,  and  Mrs.  Kerr  had  the  whole  unit 
to  tea.  I  had  lunch  one  day  at  the  British  Mess, 
and  another  day  at  the  Russian  Admiral's.  They 
all  came  out  to  dinner  with  us. 

''Of  course  a  new  face  means  a  lot  in  an  out-of- 
the-way  place,  and  seventy-five  new  faces  was  a 
God-send.  Well,  as  I  said  before,  they  are  the 
kindest  set  of  people  I  ever  came  across.  They 
brought  us  our  bread,  and  changed  our  money,  and 
arranged  with  the  bank,  and  got  us  this  train  with 
berths,  and  thought  of  every  single  thing  for  us.'* 

"Nearing  Odessa, 
''Sep,  21,  1916. 

"Darling  Eve, — ^We  are  nearing  the  second 
stage  of  our  journey,  and  they  say  we  shall  be  in 
Odessa  to-night.  We  have  all  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  a  Russian  minute  is  about  ten  times  as 
long  as  ours.     If  we  get  in  to-night  we  shall  have 


216  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

taken  nine  days  from  Archangel;  with  all  the  lines 
blocked  with  military  trains,  that  is  not  bad.  AH 
the  same  we  have  had  some  struggles,  but  it  has 
been  a  very  comfortable  journey  and  very  pleasant. 
The  Russian  officials  all  along  the  line  have  been 
most  helpful  and  kind.  A  Serbian  officer  on  board, 
or  rather  a  Montenegrin,  looked  after  us  like  a 
father. 

"What  we  should  have  done  without  M.  and 
Mme.  Malinina  at  Moscow,  I  don't  know.  They 
gave  the  whole  afternoon  up  to  us:  took  us  to  the 
Kremlin — he,  the  whole  unit  on  special  tramcars, 
and  she,  three  of  us  in  her  motor.  They  are  both 
very  busy  people.  She  has  a  beautiful  hospital,  a 
clearing  one  at  the  station,  and  he  is  a  member  of 
the  Duma,  and  Commandant  of  all  the  Red  Cross 
Work  in  Moscow.  We  only  had  a  glimpse  of  the 
Kremlin,  yet  enough  to  make  one  want  to  see  more. 
I  carried  away  one  beautiful  picture  to  remember — 
the  view  of  Moscow  in  the  sunset  light,  simply 
gorgeous. 

"The  unit  are  very  very  well,  and  exceedingly 
cheerful.  I  am  not  sorry  to  have  had  these  three 
weeks  since  we  left  to  get  the  unit  in  hand.  They 
are  in  splendid  order  now.  When  M.  Malinina 
said  it  was  time  to  leave  the  Kremlin,  and  the  order 
was  given  to  'Fall  in,'  I  was  quite  proud  of  them, 
they  did  it  so  quickly.  It  is  wonderful  even  now 
what  they  manage  to  do.  Miss  H.  says  they  are 
like  eels  in  a  basket.  They  were  told  not  to  eat 
fruit  without  peeling  it,  so  one  of  them  peeled  an 


RUSSIA  217 

apple  with  her  teeth.  They  were  told  not  to  drink 
unboiled  water,  so  they  handed  their  water-bottles 
out  at  dead  of  night  to  Russian  soldiers,  to  whom 
they  could  not  explain,  to  fill  for  them,  as  of  course 
they  understood  they  were  not  to  fill  them  from  water 
on  the  train.  I  must  say  they  are  an  awfully  nice 
lot  on  the  whole.  We  certainly  shall  not  fail  for 
want  of  energy.  The  Russian  crowds  are  tremen- 
dously interested  in  them. — Ever  your  loving  aunt, 

''Elsie." 

*'Reni,  Sep.  29,  1916. 
"Dearest  Amy, — We  have  left  Odessa  and  are 
really  off  to  our  Division.  We  are  going  to  the  ist 
Division.  General  Haditch  is  in  command  there. 
We  were  told  this  is  the  important  point  in  the  war 
just  now — 'A  Second  Verdun.'  The  great  General 
Mackensen  is  in  command  against  us.  He  was  in 
command  at  Krushlnjevatz  when  we  were  taken 
prisoners.  Every  one  says  how  anxiously  they  are 
looking  out  for  us,  and,  indeed,  we  shall  have  our 
work  cut  out  for  us.  We  are  two  little  field  hos- 
pitals for  a  whole  Division.  Think  if  that  was  the 
provision  for  our  own  men.  They  are  such  a  mag- 
nificent body  of  men.  We  saw  the  2nd  Division 
preparing  in  Odessa.  Only  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  war,  they  ought  to  be  looked  after,  but  when 
one  remembers  that  they  are  men,  every  one  of 
them  with  somebody  who  cares  for  them,  it  is  dread- 
ful. I  wish  we  were  each  six  women  instead  of 
one.  I  have  wired  home  for  another  Base  Hos- 
pital to  take  the  place  of  the  British  Red  Cross 


218  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

units  when  they  move  on  with  the  2nd  Division. 
The  Russians  are  splendid  In  taking  the  Serbs  into 
their  Base  Hospitals,  but  you  can  imagine  what  the 
pressure  is  from  their  own  huge  armies.  We  had 
such  a  reception  at  Odessa.  All  the  Russian  of- 
ficials, at  the  station,  and  our  Consul,  and  a  line 
drawn  up  of  twenty  Serbian  officers.  .  They  had  a 
motor  car  and  forty  droskies  and  a  squad  of  Serbian 
soldiers  to  carry  up  our  personal  luggage,  and  most 
delightful  quarters  for  us  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
town  in  a  sanatorium.  We  were  the  guests  of  the 
city  while  we  were  there.  Our  Consul  was  so  good 
and  helpful.  Odessa  is  Immensely  interested  in  us. 
We  were  told  that  the  form  of  greeting  while  we 
were  there  was,  'Have  you  seen  themT  The  two 
best  things  were  the  evening  at  the  Serbian  Mess, 
and  the  gala  performance  at  the  opera.  The  cheer- 
ing of  the  Serbian  mess  when  we  went  In  was  some- 
thing to  remember,  but  I  can  tell  you  I  felt  quite 
choking  when  the  whole  house  last  night  turned 
round  and  cheered  us  after  we  tried  to  sing  our 
National  Anthem  to  them  with  the  orchestra." 

"Reni,  Oct,  28,  1916. 
"Dearest  Amy,— Just  a  line  to  say  I  am  all 
right.  Four  weeks  to-morrow  since  we  reached 
Medgidia,  and  began  our  hospital.  We  evacuated 
it  In  three  weeks,  and  here  we  are  all  back  on  the 
frontier-  Such  a  time  it  has  been.  Amy  dear.  You 
cannot  imagine  what  war  Is  just  behind  the  lines, 
and  in  a  retreat  I — our  second  retreat,  and  almost 
to  the  same  day.     We  evacuated  Kragujevatz  on 


RUSSIA  219 

the  25th  of  October  last  year.  We  evacuated 
Medgldia  on  the  22nd  this  year.  On  the  25th  this 
year,  we  were  working  in  a  Russian  dressing-station 
at  Harshova,  and  were  moved  on  in  the  evening. 
We  arrived  at  Braila  to  find  11,000  wounded,  and 
seven  doctors — only  one  of  them  a  surgeon. 

"Boat  came.  Must  stop.  Am  going  back  to 
Braila  to  do  surgery.  Have  sent  every  trained 
person  there. — Your  loving  sister,  Elsie. 

*'P.S. — We  have  had  lots  of  exciting  things  too, 
and  amusing  things,  and  good  things." 

**On  the  Danube  at  Tulcea, 

"Nov.  11/16. 

"Dearest  Amy, — I  am  writing  this  on  the  boat 
between  Tulcea  and  Ismail,  where  I  am  going  to 
see  our  second  hospital  and  the  transport.  Admiral 
Vesolskin  has  given  me  a  special  boat,  and  we 
motored  over  from  Braila.  The  fitappen  command 
had  been  expecting  us  all  afternoon,  and  the  boat 
was  ready.  They  were  very  amused  to  find  that 
*the  doctor'  they  had  been  expecting  was  a  woman ! 

"Our  main  hospital  was  at  Medgidia,  and  our 
field  hospital  at  Bulbulmic,  only  about  seven  miles 
from  the  front.  They  gave  us  a  very  nice  build- 
ing, a  barrack,  at  Medgidia  for  the  hospital,  and 
the  personnel  were  in  tents  on  the  opposite  hill.  We 
arrived  on  the  day  of  the  offensive,  and  were  ready 
for  patients  within  forty-eight  hours.  We  were  there 
less  than  three  weeks,  and  during  that  time  we  un- 
packed the  equipment  and  repacked  it.  We  made 
really  a  rather  nice  hospital  at  Medgidia,  and  the 


220  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

field  hospital.  We  pitched  and  struck  the  camp — 
we  were  nursing  and  operating  the  whole  time,  and 
evacuating  rapidly  too,  and  our  cars  were  on  the 
road  practically  always. 

*'The  first  notice  we  got  of  the  retreat  was  our 
field  hospital  being  brought  back  five  versts.  Then 
the  transport.  Then  we  were  told  to  send  the 
equipment  to  Galatz,  but  to  keep  essential  things 
and  the  personnel.  Then  came  orders  to  go  our- 
selves. I  never  saw  such  a  retreat.  Serbia  was 
nothing  to  it.  The  whole  country  was  covered  with 
groups  of  soldiers  who  had  lost  their  regiments. 
Russians,  Serbs,  and  Rumanians.  The  Rumanian 
guns  were  simply  being  rushed  back,  through  the 
crowds  of  refugees.  The  whole  country  was  mov- 
ing: in  some  places  the  panic  was  awful.  One  part 
of  our  scattered  unit  came  In  for  it.  You  would 
have  thought  the  Bulgars  were  at  the  heels  of  the 
people.  One  man  threw  away  a  baby  right  in 
front  of  the  cars.  They  were  throwing  everything 
off  the  carts  to  lighten  them,  and  our  people,  being 
of  a  calmer  disposition,  picked  up  what  they  wanted 
in  the  way  of  vegetables,  etc.  Men,  with  their  rifles 
and  bayonets,  climbed  on  to  the  Red  Cross  cars 
to  save  a  few  minutes.  We  simply  went  head  over 
heels  out  of  the  country.  I  want  to  collect  all  the 
different  stories  of  our  groups.  My  special  lot 
slept  the  first  night  on  straw  in  Caromacat;  the  next 
night  on  the  roadside  round  a  lovely  fire;  the  next 
(much  reduced  In  numbers,  for  I  had  cleared  the 
majority  off  in  barges  for  Galatz),  we  slept  in  an 


RUSSIA  221 

empty  room  at  Hershova,  and  spent  the  next  day 
dressing  at  the  wharf.  And  by  the  next  night  we 
were  in  Braila,  involved  in  the  avalanche  of 
wounded  that  descended  on  that  place,  and  there 
we  have  been  ever  since. 

"We  found  some  of  our  transport,  and,  while  we 
were  having  tea,  an  officer  came  in  and  asked  us  to 
go  round  and  help  in  a  hospital.  There,  we  were 
told,  there  were  ii,ooo  wounded  (I  believe  the  of- 
ficial figures  are  7000).  They  had  been  working 
thirty-six  hours  without  stopping  when  we  arrived. 

"The  wounded  had  overflowed  into  empty  houses, 
and  were  lying  about  in  their  uniforms,  and  their 
wounds  not  dressed  for  four  or  five  days.  You  can 
imagine  the  conditions. 

"So  we  just  turned  up  our  sleeves  and  went  in. 
I  got  back  all  the  trained  Sisters  from  Galatz,  and 
now  the  pressure  is  over.  One  thing  I  am  going  up 
to  Ismail  for,  is  to  get  Into  touch  with  the  Serbian 
H.  2,  and  find  out  what  they  want  us  to  do  next. 
The  Serb  wounded  were  evacuated  straight  to 
Odessa. 

"The  unit  as  a  whole  has  behaved  splendidly, 
plucky  and  cheery  through  everything,  and  game  for 
any  amount  of  work. 

"And  we  are  prouder  of  our  Serbs  than  ever.  I 
do  hope  the  papers  at  home  have  realised  what  the 
1st  Division  did,  and  how  they  suffered  In  the  fight 
in  the  middle  of  September.  General  Genlikoffsky 
said  to  me,  ^C^etat  magnifique,  magnifique!  Us  sont 
les  heros^ ; — and  another  Russian:  'We  did  not  quite 


£22  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

believe  in  these  Austrian  Serbs,  but  no  one  will  ever 
doubt  them  again.' 

^'Personally,  I  have  been  awfully  well,  and 
prouder  than  ever  of  British  women.  I  wish  you 
could  have  seen  trained  Sisters  scrubbing  floors  at 
Medgidia,  and  those  strapping  transport  girls  lifting 
the  stretchers  out  of  the  ambulances  so  steadily  and 
gently.  I  have  told  in  the  Report  how  Miss  Bor- 
rowman  and  Miss  Brown  brought  the  equipments 
through  to  Galatz.  We  lost  only  one  Ludgate 
boiler  and  one  box  of  radiators.  We  lost  two  cars, 
but  that  was  really  the  fault  of  a  rather  stupid 
Serbian  officer.  It  is  a  comfort  to  feel  you  are  all 
thinking  of  us. — ^Your  loving  sister,  E.  I." 

"In  an  Ambulance  Train  between 
"Reni  and  Odessa,  Jan.  24,  191 7. 

"Darling  Eve, — Now  we  have  got  a  hospital  at 
Reni  again,  for  badly  wounded,  working  in  connec- 
tion with  the  evacuation  station.  We  have  got  the 
dearest  little  house  to  live  in  ourselves,  but,  as  we 
are  getting  far  more  people  out  from  Odessa,  we 
shall  have  to  overflow  into  the  Expedition  houses. 
Reni  itself  is  quite  a  small  village.  I  remember 
thinking  Reni  a  most  uninteresting  place — crowds 
of  shipping  and  the  wharf  all  crammed  with  sacks. 
It  was  just  a  big  junction  like  Crewe ! 

"The  hospital  at  Reni  is  a  real  building,  but  It  is 
not  finished.  One  unfinished  bit  is  the  windows, 
which  have  one  layer  of  glass  each,  though  they  have 
double  sashes.  When  this  was  pointed  out,  I 
thought  it  was  a  mere  continental  foible.     When 


RUSSIA  223 

the  cold  came  I  realised  that  there  is  some  sense 
in  this  foible  after  all!  We  cannot  get  the  wards 
warm,  notwithstanding  extra  stoves  and  roaring 
fires.  The  poor  Russians  do  mind  cold  so  much. 
But  they  don't  want  to  leave  the  hospital.  One 
man  whom  I  told  he  must  have  an  operation  later 
on  in  another  hospital,  said  he  would  rather  wait 
for  it  in  ours.  The  first  time  we  had  to  evacuate, 
we  simply  could  not  get  the  men  to  go.  Nice, 
isn't  it? 

*'We  have  got  a  Russian  Secretary  now,  because 
we  are  using  Russian  Red  Cross  money,  and  he  told 
us  he  had  been  told  in  Petrograd  that  the  S.W.H. 
were  beautifully  organised,  and  the  only  drawback 
was  the  language.  Quite  true.  I  wish  we  were 
polyglots.  We  have  got  a  certain  number  of  Aus- 
trian prisoners  as  orderlies,  and  most  of  them  curi- 
ously can  speak  Russian,  so  we  get  on  better.  Did 
you  know  I  could  speak  German?  I  did  not  until  I 
had  to!  This  is  a  most  comfortable  way  of  travel- 
ling, and  the  quickest.  We  have  500  wounded  on 
board,  twenty-three  of  them  ours.  I  am  going  to 
Odessa  to  find  out  why  we  cannot  get  Serb  patients. 
There  are  still  thousands  of  them  in  Odessa,  and 
yet  Dr.  Chesney  gets  nothing  but  Russians.  The 
Serbs  we  meet  seem  to  think  it  is  somehow  our 
fault  I  I  tell  them  I  have  written  and  telegraphed, 
and  planned  and  made  two  journeys  to  Ismail,  to 
try  and  get  a  real  Serbian  Hospital  going,  and  yet 
it  doesn't  go. 

*'What  did  happen  over  the  change  of  Govern- 


224  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

ment?  I  do  hope  we  have  got  the  right  lot  now, 
to  put  things  straight  at  home,  and  carry  through 
things  abroad.  Remember  it  all  depends  on  you 
people  at  home.  The  whole  thing  depends  on  us. 
I  know  we  lose  the  perspective  in  this  gloomy  cor- 
ner, but  there  is  one  thing  quite  clear,  and  that  is 
that  they  are  all  trusting  to  our  sticking  powers. 
They  know  we'll  hold  on — of  course — I  only  wish 
we  would  realise  that  it  would  be  as  well  to  use  our 
intellects  too,  and  have  them  clear  of  alcohol." 

"In  an  Ambulance  Train, 
"near  Odessa,  Jan.  25,  1917. 

*'You  don't  know  what  a  comfort  it  is  on  this  tu- 
multuous front,  to  know  that  all  you  people  at  home 
have  just  settled  down  to  it,  and  that  you'll  put 
things  right  in  the  long  run.  It  is  curious  to  feel 
how  everybody  is  trusting  to  that.  The  day  we 
left  Braila,  a  Rumanian  said  to  me  in  the  hall,  'It  is 
England  we  are  trusting  to.  She  has  got  hold  now 
like  a  strong  dog!'  But  it  is  a  bigger  job  than  any 
of  you  imagine,  /  think.  But  there  is  not  the  slight- 
est doubt  we  shall  pull  it  off.  I  am  glad  to  think  the 
country  has  discovered  that  it  is  possible  to  have  an 
alternative  Government.  If  it  does  not  do,  we 
must  find  yet  another." 

To  her  little  Niece ^  Amy  M^Laren^.^ 

"On  an  Ambulance  Train, 
"near  Odessa,  Jan.  25,  19 17. 

"Darling  Amy, — How  are  you  all?     We  have 

httn  very  busy  since  we  came  out  here :  first  a  hos- 


RUSSIA  225 

pital  for  the  Serbs  at  Medgldia,  then  in  a  Rumanian 
hospital  at  Braila,  and  then  for  the  Russians  at 
Galatz  and  Reni.  In  the  very  middle,  by  some 
funny  mistake,  we  were  sent  flying  right  on  to  the 
front  line.  However  we  nipped  out  again  just  In 
time,  and  the  station  was  burnt  to  the  ground  just 
half  an  hour  after  we  left.  I'll  tell  you  the  name 
of  the  place  when  the  war  Is  over,  and  show  It  to  you 
on  the  map.  We  saw  the  petrol  tanks  on  fire  as 
we  came  away,  and  the  ricks  of  grain  too. 

*'Our  hospital  at  Galatz  was  in  a  school.  I  don't 
think  the  children  In  these  parts  are  doing  many 
lessons  during  the  war,  and  that  will  be  a  great 
handicap  for  their  countries  afterwards.  Perhaps, 
however,  they  are  learning  other  lessons.  When  we 
left  the  Dobrudja  we  saw  the  crowds  of  refugees 
on  their  carts,  with  the  things  they  had  been  able 
to  save,  and  all  the  little  children  packed  in  among 
the  furniture  and  pots  and  pans  and  pigs. 

*'In  one  cart  I  saw  two  fascinating  babies  about 
three  years  old,  sitting  In  a  kind  of  little  nest  made 
of  pillows  and  rugs.  They  were  little  girls,  one 
fair  and  one  dark,  and  they  sat  there,  as  good  as 
gold,  watching  everything  with  such  Interest.  There 
were  streams  of  carts  along  the  roads,  and  all  the 
villages  deserted.  That  Is  what  the  war  means  out 
here.  It  Is  not  quite  so  bad  In  our  safe  Scotland, 
is  it? — thanks  to  the  fleet.  And  that  is  why  it  seems 
to  me  we  have  got  to  help  these  people,  because  they 
are  having  the  worst  of  it.  I  v/onder  If  you  can 
knit  socks  yet,  for  I  can  use  any  number,  and  band- 


226  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

ages.     Do  you  know  how  to  roll  bandages?     Bless- 
ings on  you,  precious  little  girl. — Your  loving  aunt, 

"Elsie.'* 

"I  have  had  my  meals  with  the  Staff.  Unfortu- 
nately, most  of  them  speak  only  Russian,  but  one 
man  speaks  French,  and  another  German.  One  of 
the  Sisters  speaks  English.  The  man  who  speaks 
German  is  having  English  lessons  from  her.  His 
despair  over  the  pronunciation  is  comic.  He  picked 
up  Punch  and  showed  me  you.  So,  I  said  'you.* 
He  repeated  it  quite  nicely,  and  then  found  another 
OU.  'Though,'  and  when  I  said  'though,'  he  flung 
up  his  hands,  and  said,  'Why  a  practical  nation  like 
the  English  should  do  things  like  this !'  " 

"S.W.H., 

"Reni,  March  5,  191 7. 

"Darling  Mary, — ^We  have  been  having  such 
icy  weather  here,  such  snowstorms  sweeping  across 
the  plain.  You  should  see  the  snowdrifts.  One 
day  I  really  thought  the  house  would  be  cut  off  from 
the  hospital.  The  unit  going  over  to  Roll  was 
quite  a  sight,  with  the  indiarubber  boots,  and  peaked 
Russian  caps,  with  the  ends  twisted  round  their 
throats.  We  should  have  thoroughly  enjoyed  it  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  shortage  of  fuel.  However, 
we  were  never  absolutely  without  wood,  and  now 
have  plenty,  as  a  Cossack  regiment  sent  a  squad  of 
men  across  the  Danube  to  cut  for  us,  and  we  brought 
it  back  in  our  carts.  The  Danube  is  frozen  right 
across — such   a   curious   sight.     The   first  time   in 


RUSSIA  227 

seven  years,  they  say — so  nice  of  it  to  do  It  just  when 
we  are  here  I  I  would  not  have  missed  it  for  any- 
thing. The  hospital  has  only  had  about  forty 
patients  for  some  time,  as  there  has  been  no  fighting, 
and  it  was  just  as  well  when  we  were  so  short  of 
wood.  We  collected  them  all  into  one  ward,  and 
let  the  other  fires  out. 

"The  chief  of  the  medical  department  held  an 
inspection.  That  was  an  inspection!  The  old  gen- 
tleman poked  into  every  corner.  Took  off  the  men's 
shirts  and  looked  for  lice,  turned  up  the  sheets,  and 
beat  the  mattresses  to  look  for  dust,  tasted  the 
men's  food,  and  in  the  end  stated  we  were  ochin 
cheste  (very  clean),  and  that  the  patients  were  well 
cared  for  medically  and  well  nursed.  All  of  which 
was  very  satisfactory,  but  he  added  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  orderlies  was  disgraceful,  and  so  it 
was.  I  hadn't  realised  they  were  my  job.  How- 
ever, I  told  him  next  time  he  came  he  should  not 
find  one  single  louse.  He  was  very  amused  and 
pleased. 

"Dr.  Laird  and  I  have  a  nice  snug  little  room 
together.  That  is  one  blessing  here,  we  have  plenty 
of  sun.  Very  soon  it  will  begin  to  get  quite  hot. 
I  woke  up  on  the  ist  of  March  and  thought  of  get- 
ting home  last  year  that  day,  and  two  days  after 
waking  up  in  Eve's  dear  little  room,  with  the  roses 
on  the  roof.  Bless  all  you  dear  people. — Ever 
your  loving  aunt,  '■  Elsie." 

"March  23,  191 7. 
"We  have  been  awfully  excited  and  interested  in 


228  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

the  news  from  Petrograd.  We  heard  of  it,  prob- 
ably long  after  you  people  at  home  knew  all  about 
it !  It  is  most  interesting  to  see  how  everybody  is  on 
the  side  of  the  change,  from  Russian  officers,  who 
come  to  tea  and  beam  at  us,  and  say,  'Heresho' 
(good)  to  the  men  in  the  wards.  In  any  case  they 
say  we  shall  find  the  difference  all  over  the  war 
area.  One  Russian  officer,  who  was  here  before 
the  news  came,  was  talking  about  the  Revolution  in 
England  two  hundred  years  ago,  and  said  it  was  the 
most  interesting  period  of  European  history.  *They 
say  all  these  ideas  began  with  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, but  they  didn't — they  began  long  before  in 
England,'  he  thought.  He  spoke  English  Tjeauti- 
fully,  and  had  had  an  English  nurse.  He  had  read 
Milton's  political  pamphlets,  and  we  wondered  all 
the  time  whether  he  was  thinking  of  changes  in  Rus- 
sia after  the  war,  but  now  I  wonder  if  he  knew  the 
changes  were  coming  sooner. 

"Do  you  know  we  have  all  been  given  the  St. 
George  Medal?  Prince  Dolgourokoff,  who  is  in 
command  on  this  front,  arrived  quite  unexpectedly, 
just  after  roll  call.  The  telegram  saying  he  was 
coming  arrived  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  he  left! 
General  Kropensky,  the  head  of  the  Red  Cross, 
rushed  up,  and  the  Prince  arrived  about  two  minutes 
after  him.  He  went  all  over  the  hospital,  and  a 
member  of  his  gilded  staff  told  matron  he  was  very 
pleased  with  everything.  He  decorated  two  men 
in  the  wards  with  St.  George's  Medal,  and  then 
said  he  wanted  to  see  us  together,  and  shook  hands 


RUSSIA  229 

with  everybody  and  said,  *Thank  you,'  and  gave 
each  of  us  a  medal  too;  Dr.  Laird's  was  for  service, 
as  she  had  not  been  under  fire.  St.  George's  Medal 
is  a  silver  one  with  'For  Bravery'  on  Its  back.  Our 
patients  were  awfully  pleased,  and  Inpressed  on  us 
that  it  carried  with  It  a  pension  of  a  rouble  a  month 
for  life.  We  gave  them  all  cigarettes  to  com- 
memorate the  occasion. 

"It  was  rather  satisfactory  to  see  how  the  hos- 
pital looked  In  its  ordinary,  and  even  I  was  fairly 
satisfied.  I  tell  the  unit  that  they  must  remember 
that  they  have  an  old  maid  as  commandant,  and 
must  live  up  to  it !  I  cannot  stand  dirt,  and  crooked 
charts  and  crumpled  sheets.  One  Sister,  I  hear, 
put  It  delightfully  in  a  letter  home:  'Our  C.M.O.  is 
an  Idealist!'  I  thought  that  was  rather  sweet;  I 
believe  she  added,  'but  she  does  appreciate  good 
work.'  Certainly,  I  appreciate  hers.  She  Is  in 
charge  of  the  room  for  dressings,  and  It  Is  one  of 
the  thoroughly  satisfactory  points  In  the  hospital. 

"The  Greek  priest  came  yesterday  to  bless  the 
hospital.  We  put  up  'Icons'  in  each  of  the  four 
wards.  The  Russians  are  a  very  religious  people, 
and  It  seems  to  appeal  to  some  mystic  sense  In  them. 
The  priest  just  put  on  a  stole,  green  and  gold,  and 
came  in  his  long  grey  cloak.  The  two  wards  open 
out  of  one  another,  so  he  held  the  service  In  one, 
the  men  all  saying  the  responses  and  crossing  them- 
selves. The  four  Icons  lay  on  the  table  before 
him,  with  three  lighted  candles  at  the  Inner  comers. 


g30  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

and  he  blessed  water  and  sprinkled  them,  and  then 
he  sprinkled  everybody  In  the  room.  The  Icons 
were  fixed  up  In  the  corner  of  the  wards,  and  I 
bought  little  lamps  to  burn  In  front  of  them,  as  they 
always  have  them.  We  are  going  to  have  the  eve- 
ning hymn  sung  every  evening  at  six  o'clock.  I 
heard  that  first  in  Serbia  from  those  poor  Russian 
prisoners,  who  sang  it  regularly  every  evening. 

*'The  mud  has  been  literally  awful.  The  night 
nurses  come  up  from  the  village  literally  wet 
through,  having  dragged  one  another  out  of  mud 
holes  all  the  way.  Now,  a  cart  goes  down  to  fetch 
them  each  evening.  We  have  twenty  horses  and 
nine  carts  belonging  to  us.  I  have  made  Vera 
Holme  master  of  the  horse. 

"I  have  heard  two  delightful  stories  from  the 
Sisters  who  have  returned  from  Odessa.  There  is 
a  great  rivalry  between  the  Armoured  Car  men  and 
the  British  Red  Cross  men,  about  the  capabilities 
of  their  Sisters.  (We,  It  appears,  are  the  Armoured 
Car  Sisters !)  A  B.R.C^  man  said  their  Sisters  were 
so  smart  they  got  a  man  on  to  the  operating-table 
five  minutes  after  the  other  one  went  off.  Said  an 
Armoured  Car  man:  'But  that's  nothing.  The 
Scottish  Sisters  get  the  second  one  on  before  the 
first  one  Is  off.'  The  other  story  runs  that  there 
was  some  idea  of  the  men  waiting  all  night  on  a 
quay,  and  the  men  said,  'But  you  don't  think  we 
are  Scottish  Sisters,  sir,  do  you?'  I  have  no  doubt 
that  refers  to  Galatz,  where  we  made  them  work' 
all  night." 


RUSSIA  231 

"Reni,  Easter  Day,  191 7. 

"We,  all  the  patients,  sick  and  wounded,  belong- 
ing to  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  coming  from  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  great,  free  Russia,  who  are  at 
present  in  your  hospital,  are  filled  with  feelings 
of  the  truest  respect  for  you.  We  think  it  our  duty 
as  citizens  on  this  beautiful  day  of  Holy  Easter  to 
express  to  you,  highly  respected  and  much  beloved 
Doctor,  as  well  as  to  your  whole  Unit,  our  best 
thanks  for  all  the  care  and  attention  you  have  be- 
stowed upon  us.  We  bow  low  and  very  respect- 
fully before  the  constant  and  useful  work  which  we 
have  seen  daily,  and  which  we  know  to  be  for  the 
well-being  of  our  allied  countries. 

"We  are  quite  sure  that,  thanks  to  the  complete 
unity  of  action  of  all  the  allied  countries,  the  hour 
of  gladness  and  the  triumph  of  the  Allied  arms  in 
the  cause  of  humanity  and  the  honour  of  nations 
is  near. 

^^Five  I'Angleterre! 

"Russian  Soldiers,   Citizens,   and  the   Russian 
Sister, 

"Vera  V.  de  Kolesnikoff." 

"Reni,  March  2,  19 17. 
"Darling  Eve, — -Very  many  thanks  for  the  war 
prayers.  They  are  a  great  help  on  Sundays.  The 
Archbishop's  prayers  that  I  wanted  are  the  original 
ones  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Just  at  present 
we  are  very  lucky  as  regards  the  singing,  as  there  are 
three  or  four  capital  voices  in  the  unit.  We  have 
the  service  at   1.30  on  Sunday.     That  lets  all  the 


233  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

morning  work  be  finished.  I  do  wonder  what  has 
become  of  Miss  Henderson  and  the  new  orderlies! 
And  the  equipment!  We  want  them  all  so  badly, 
not  to  speak  of  my  cool  uniform.  That  will  be 
needed  very  soon  I  think.  It  is  so  delicious  to  feel 
warm  again.  We  are  having  glorious  weather,  so 
sunny  and  warm.  All  the  snow  has  gone,  and  the 
mud  is  appalling.  I  thought  I  knew  the  worst  mud 
could  do  in  Serbia,  but  it  was  nothing  to  this.  We 
have  made  little  tiled  paths  all  about  our  domain, 
and  keep  comparatively  clean  there.  I  wish  we 
could  take  over  the  lot  of  buildings.  The  other 
day  I  thought  I  had  made  a  great  score,  and  bought 
two  thousand  poud  of  wood  at  a  very  small  price. 
It  was  thirty-five  versts  out.  We  got  the  Cossacks 
to  lend  us  transport.  But  the  transport  stuck  in  the 
mud,  and  came  back  the  next  day,  having  had  to  haul 
the  empty  carts  out  of  mud  holes  by  harnessing  four 
horses  first  to  one  cart  and  then  to  another.  It 
was  no  wonder  I  got  the  wood  so  cheap.  One  of 
our  great  difficulties  has  been  fuel." 

"April  i8,  1918. 
"I  am  writing  this  sitting  out  in  my  little  tent, 
with  a  glorious  view  over  the  Danube.  We  have 
pitched  some  of  the  tents  to  relieve  the  crowding 
in  the  house.  They  are  no  longer  beautiful  and 
white,  as  they  were  at  Medgidia.  We  have  had  to 
stain  them  a  dirty  grey  colour,  so  as  to  hide  them 
from  aeroplanes.  Yesterday,  we  had  an  awful  gale, 
and  a  downpour  of  rain,  and  the  tents  stood  splen- 
didly, and  not  a  drop  of  water  came  through.    Miss 


RUSSIA  233 

Plelster  and  the  Austrian  orderly  who  helped  her 
to  pitch  them  are  triumphant.  Do  get  our  spy- 
Incident,  from  the  office.  My  dear,  they  thought 
we  were  spies.  We  had  an  awful  two  days,  but  it 
is  quite  a  joke  to  look  back  on.  The  unit  were 
most  thoroughly  and  Britishly  angry.  Quite  rightly. 
But  I  very  soon  saw  the  other  side,  and  managed  to 
get  them  in  hand  once  more.  General  Kropensky, 
our  chief,  was  a  perfect  brick.  The  armoured  car 
section  sent  a  special  despatch  rider  over  to  Galatz 
to  fetch  him,  and  he  came  off  at  once.  He  talks 
perfect  English,  and  he  has  since  written  me  a  charm- 
ing letter  saying  our  sang-froid  and  our  savoir-faire 
saved  the  situation.  I  am  afraid  there  was  not 
much  sang-froid  among  us,  but  some  of  us  managed 
to  keep  hold  of  our  common  sense.  As  I  told  the 
girls,  in  common  fairness  they  must  look  at  the 
other  side — spy  fever  raging,  a  foreign  hospital 
right  on  the  front,  and  a  Revolution  in  progress.  I 
told  them,  even  if  they  did  not  care  about  Russia, 
I  supposed  they  cared  about  the  war  and  England, 
and  I  wondered  what  effect  it  would  have  on  all 
these  Russian  soldiers  if  we  went  away  with  the 
thing  not  cleared  up,  and  still  under  suspicion.  After 
all,  the  ordinary  Russian  soldier  knows  nothing 
about  England,  except  in  the  very  concrete  form  of 
us.  We  should  have  played  right  into  the  devil's 
hands  if  we  had  gone  away.  Of  course,  they  saw  it 
at  once,  and  we  stuck  to  our  guns  for  England's 
sake.  The  6th  Army,  I  think,  understands  that 
England,  as  represented  by  this  small  unit,  is  keen 


2S4i  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

on  the  war,  and  does  not  spy!  We  have  had  a 
telegram  from  the  General  In  command,  apologis- 
ing, and  our  patients  have  been  perfectly  angelic. 
And  the  men  from  all  regiments  round  come  up  to 
the  out-patients'  department,  and  are  most  grateful 
and  punctiliously  polite.  So  all  is  well  that  ends 
well. 

*'We  had  a  very  interesting  Easter.  You  know 
the  Russian  greeting  on  Easter  morning,  'Christ  is 
risen,'  and  the  answer,  'He  is  risen  indeed.'  We 
learnt  them  both,  and  made  our  greetings  in  Rus- 
sian fashion.  On  Easter  Eve  we  went  to  the  church 
in  the  village.  The  service  is  at  midnight.  The 
church  was  crowded  with  soldiers — very  few  women 
there.  They  were  most  reverent  and  absorbed  out- 
side in  the  court-yards.  It  was  a  very  curious  scene ; 
little  groups  of  people  with  lighted  candles  waiting 
to  get  in.  Here,  we  had  a  very  nice  Easter  service. 
My  'choir'  had  three  lovely  Easter  hymns,  and  we 
even  sang  the  Magnificat.  One  of  the  armoured 
car  men,  on  his  way  from  Galatz  to  Belgrade, 
stayed  for  the  service,  and  it  was  nice  to  have  a 
man's  voice  in  the  singing.  We  gave  our  patients 
Easter  eggs  and  cigarettes.  Except  that  we  are 
very  idle,  we  are  very  happy  here.  Our  patients  are 
delightful,  the  hospital  in  good  order.  The  Steppe 
is  a  fascinating  place  to  wander  over,  the  little 
valleys,  and  the  villages  hidden  away  in  them,  and 
the  flowers !  We  have  been  riding  our  transport 
horses — rather  rough,  but  quite  nice  and  gentle. 
We  all  ride  astride  of  course." 


RUSSIA  235 

"On  Active  Service, 

"To  Mrs.  Flinders  Petrie, 

Hon.  Sec,  Scottish  Women's  Hospitals. 

"Reni,  May  8,  191 7. 

"Dear  Mrs.  Petrie, — How  perfectly  splendid 
about  the  Egyptologists.  Miss  Henderson  brought 
me  your  message,  saying  how  splendidly  they  are 
subscribing.  That  is  of  course  all  due  to  you,  you 
wonderful  woman.  It  was  such  a  tantalising  thing 
to  hear  that  you  had  actually  thought  of  coming 
out  as  an  Administrator,  and  that  you  found  you 
could  not.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  splendid  it  would 
have  been  if  you  could  have  come.  ...  I  want  'a 
woman  of  the  world'  .  .  .  and  I  want  an  adaptable 
person,  who  will  talk  to  the  innumerable  officers 
who  swarm  about  this  place,  and  ride  with  the  girls, 
and  manage  the  officials ! 

"I  do  wish  you  could  see  our  hospital  now.  It 
really  is  quite  nice.  Such  a  nice  story: — Matron 
was  in  Reni  the  other  day,  seeing  the  Commandant 
of  the  town  about  some  things  for  the  hospital,  and 
when  she  came  out  she  found  a  crowd  of  Russian 
soldiers  standing  round  her  house.  They  asked 
her  if  she  had  got  what  she  wanted,  and  she  said 
the  Commandant  was  going  to  see  about  it.  Where- 
upon the  men  said,  'The  Commandant  must  be  told 
that  the  Scottish  Hospital  {Schottlandsche  holnitza) 
is  the  best  hospital  on  this  front,  and  must  have  what- 
ever it  wants.  That  is  the  opinion  of  the  Russian 
Soldier.'  Do  you  recognise  the  echo  of  the  big 
reverberation  that  has  shaken  Russia.     We  get  on 


236  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

awfully  well  with  the  Russian  soldier.  Two  of  our 
patients  were  overheard  talking  the  other  day,  and 
they  said,  'The  Russian  Sisters  are  pretty  but  not 
good,  and  the  English  Sisters  are  good  and  not 
pretty.*  The  story  was  brought  up  to  the  mess- 
room  by  quite  a  nice-looking  girl  who  had  overheard 
it.  But  we  thought  we'd  let  the  judgment  stand  and 
be  like  Kingsley's  'maid' — though  we  don!t  under- 
take to  endorse  the  Russian  part  of  it! 

"We  have  got  some  of  the  personnel  tents  pitched 
now,  and  it  is  delightful.  It  was  rather  close  quar- 
ters in  the  little  house.  I  am  writing  in  my  tent 
now,  looking  out  over  the  Danube.  Such  a  lovely 
place,  Reni  is — and  the  Steppe  is  fascinating  with 
its  wide  plains  and  little  unexpected  valleys  full  of 
flowers.  We  have  some  glorious  rides  over  it.  The 
other  night  our  camp  was  the  centre  of  a  fight. 
Only  a  sham  one !  They  are  drilling  recruits  here, 
and  suddenly  the  other  night  we  found  ourselves 
being  defended  by  one  party  while  another  attacked 
from  the  Steppe.  The  battle  raged  all  night,  and 
the  camp  was  finally  carried  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  amid  shouts  and  cheers  and  barking  of 
dogs.  It  was  even  too  much  for  me,  and  I  have 
slept  through  bombardments. 

"It  has  been  so  nice  hearing  about  you  all  from 
Miss  Henderson.  How  splendidly  the  money  is 
coming  in.  Only  one  thing,  dear  Mrs.  Petrie,  do 
make  them  send  the  reliefs  more  quickly.  I  know 
all  about  boats,  but,  as  you  knew  the  orderlies  had 


RUSSIA  237 

to  leave  on  the  15th  of  January,  the  reliefs  ought 
to  have  been  off  by  the  ist. 

**I  wish  you  could  hear  the  men  singing  their 
evening  hymn  In  hospital.  They  have  just  sung  It. 
I  am  so  glad  we  thought  of  putting  up  the  icons  for 
them. 

"Good-bye  for  the  present,  dear  Mrs.  Petrle. 
My  kindest  regards  to  Professor  Flinders  Petrle. — 
Ever  yours  affectionately.   Elsie  Maud  Inglis." 

""May  II,  1917. 

"It  was  delightful  seeing  Miss  Henderson,  and 
getting  news  of  all  you  dear  people.  She  took  two 
months  over  the  journey.  But  she  did  arrive  with 
all  her  equipment.  The  equipment  I  wired  for  in 
October,  and  which  was  sent  out  by  Itself,  arrived 
in  Petrograd,  got  through  to  Jassy,  and  has  there 
stuck.  We  have  not  got  a  single  thing,  and  the 
Consuls  have  done  their  best. 

"Mr.  French,  one  of  the  chaplains  In  Petrograd, 
came  here.  He  said  he  would  have  some  services 
here.  We  pitched  a  tent,  and  we  had  the  Com- 
munion. It  was  a  joy.  I  have  sent  down  a  notice 
to  the  armoured  car  yacht,  and  I  hope  some  of  the 
men  will  come  up.  We  and  they  are  the  only  Eng- 
lish people  here. 

"The  Serbs  have  sent  me  a  message  saying  we 
may  have  to  rejoin  our  Division  soon.  I  don't  put 
too  much  weight  on  this,  because  I  know  my  dearly 
beloved  Serbs,  and  their  habit  of  saying  the  thing 
they  think  you  would  like,  but  still  we  are  preparing. 
I  shall  be  very  sorry  to  leave  our  dear  little  hos- 


2SS  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

pital  here,  and  the  Russians.  They  are  a  fascinating 
people,  especially  the  common  soldier.  I  hope  that 
as  we  have  done  this  work  for  the  Russians  and 
therefore  have  some  little  claim  on  them,  it  will 
help  us  to  get  things  more  easily  for  the  Serbs.  We 
have  one  little  laddie  In,  about  ten  years  old,  the 
most  amusing  brat.  He  was  wounded  by  an  aero- 
plane bomb  In  a  village  seven  versts  out,  and  was 
sent  Into  RenI  to  a  hospital.  But,  when  he  got 
there  he  found  the  hospital  was  for  sick  only  (a 
very  inferior  place !),  so  he  proceeded  on  to  us.  He 
wanders  about  with  a  Russian  soldier's  cap  on  his 
head  and  wrapped  round  with  a  blanket,  and  we 
hear  his  pretty  little  voice  singing  to  himself  all 
over  the  place. 

*'Nicolai,  the  man  who  came  in  when  the  hospital 
was  first  opened,  and  has  been  so  very  ill,  is  really 
getting  better.  He  had  his  dressing  left  for  two 
days  for  the  first  time  the  other  day,  and  his  excite- 
ment and  joy  were  quite  pathetic.  ^Ochin  heroshe, 
doktorutza^  ochin  herosho^  (Very  good,  dear  doctor, 
very  good),  he  kept  saying,  and  then  he  added, 
*Now,  I  know  I  am  not  going  to  die  1'  Poor  boy, 
he  has  nearly  died  several  times,  and  would  have 
died  If  he  had  not  had  English  Sisters  to  nurse  him. 
He  has  been  awfully  naughty — the  wretch.  He  bit 
one  of  the  Sisters  one  day  when  she  tried  to  give 
him  his  medicine.  Now,  he  kisses  my  hand  to  make 
up.  The  other  day  I  ordered  massage  for  his  leg, 
and  he  made  the  most  awful  row,  howled  and 
whined,  and  declared  It  would  hurt  (really,  he  has 


RUSSIA  S39 

had  enough  pain  to  destroy  anybody's  nerve),  and 
then  suddenly  pointed  to  a  Sister  who  had  come  in, 
and  said  what  she  had  done  for  him  was  the  right 
thing.  I  asked  what  she  had  done  for  him;  'Mas- 
saged his  leg,'  she  said.  I  got  that  promptly  trans- 
lated Into  Russian,  and  the  whole  room  roared  with 
laughter.  Poor  NIcolai — after  a  minute,  he  joined 
in.  His  home  Is  in  Serbia,  'a  very  nice  home  with  a 
beautiful  garden.'  His  mother  is  evidently  the  im- 
portant person  there.  His  father  Is  a  smith,  and 
he  had  meant  to  be  a  Smith  too,  but  now  he  has  got 
the  St.  George's  Cross,  which  carres  with  it  a  pen- 
sion of  six  roubles  a  month,  and  he  does  not  think 
he  will  do  any  work  at  all.  He  is  the  eldest  of  the 
family,  twenty-four  years  old,  and  has  three  sisters, 
and  a  little  brother  of  five.  Can't  you  imagine  how 
he  was  spoilt !  and  how  proud  they  are  of  him  now, 
only  twenty-four,  and  a  sous-officier,  and  been 
awarded  the  St.  George's  Cross  which  is  better  than 
the  medal;  and  been  wounded,  four  months  in  hos- 
pital, and  had  three  operations !  He  has  been  so  ill 
I  am  afraid  the  spoiling  continued  in  the  Scottish 
Women's  Hospital.  Dr.  Laird  says  she  would  not 
be  his  future  wife  for  anything. 

"We  admitted  such  a  nice-looking  boy  to-day, 
with  thick,  curly,  yellow  hair,  which  I  had  ruthlessly 
cropped,  against  his  strong  opposition.  I  doubt  if  I 
should  have  had  the  heart,  if  I  had  known  how  ill  he 
was.  He  will  need  a  very  serious  operation.  I 
found  him  this  evening  with  tears  running  silently 
over  his  cheeks,  a  Cossack,  a  great  big  man.     His 


240  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

nerve  Is  quite  gone.  He  may  have  to  go  on  to  Odes- 
sa, as  a  sever  operation  and  bombs  and  a  nervous 
breakdown  don't  go  together.  We  will  see  how  he 
settles  down. 

"We  have  made  friends  with  lots  of  the  officers; 
there  is  one,  also  a  Cossack,  who  spends  a  great  part 
of  his  time  here.  His  regiment  is  at  the  front,  and 
he  has  been  left  for  some  special  work,  and  he  seems 
rather  lonely.  He  Is  a  nice  boy,  and  brings  nice 
horses  for  us  to  ride.  We  have  been  having  quite  a 
lot  of  riding,  on  our  own  transport  horses  too.  It 
Is  heavenly  riding  here  across  the  great  plain.  We 
all  ride  astride,  and  at  first  we  found  the  Cossack's 
saddles  most  awfully  uncomfortable,  but  now  we 
are  quite  used  to  them.  Our  days  fly  past  here, 
and  in  a  sense  are  monotonous,  but  I  don't  think  we 
are  any  of  us  the  worse  for  a  little  monotony  as  an 
Interlude !  Alas !  quite  fairly  often  there  is  a  party 
at  one  of  the  regiments  here!  The  girls  enjoy 
'them,  and  matron  and  I  chaperone  them  alternately 
and  reluctantly.  It  was  quite  a  rest  during  Lent 
when  there  were  no  parties. 

"The  spy  Incident  has  quite  ended,  and  we  have 
won.  Matron  was  in  Reni  the  other  day  asking 
the  Commandant  about  something,  and  when  she 
came  out  she  found  a  little  crowd  of  Russian  sol- 
diers round  her  house.  They  asked  her  if  she  had 
got  what  she  wanted,  and  she  said  the  Commandant 
had  said  he  would  see  about  It.  They  answered, 
*The  Commandant  must  be  told  that  the  S.W.H.  Is 
the  best  hospital  on  this  front,  and  that  It  must  have 


RUSSIA  241 

everything  it  wants/  That  is  the  opinion  of  the 
Russian  soldier!  If  you  were  here  you  would  recog- 
nise the  new  tone  of  the  Russian  soldier  in  these 
days, — but  I  am  glad  he  approves  of  our  hospital." 

"Odessa,  June  24,  1917. 

**I  wish  you  could  realise  how  the  little  nations, 
Serbs  and  Rumanians  and  Poles,  count  on  us. 
What  a  comfort  it  is  to  them  to  think  we  are  'the 
most  tenacious'  nation  in  Europe.  In  their  eyes  it 
all  hangs  on  us.  It  is  all  terrible  and  awful.  I 
don't  believe  we  can  disentangle  it  all  in  our  minds 
just  now.  The  only  thing  is  just  to  go  on  doing 
one's  bit.  Because,  one  thing  is  quite  clear,  Europe 
won't  be  a  habitable  place  if  Germany  wins — for 
anybody. 

"I  think  there  are  going  to  be  a  lot  of  changes 
here." 

'"July  15,  1917. 
"I  have  had  German  measles !  The  Consul  asked 
me  what  I  meant  by  that  at  my  time  of  life !  The 
majority  of  people  say  how  unpatriotic  and  Hunnish 
of  you!  Well,  a  few  days  off  did  not  do  me  any 
harm.  I  had  a  very  luxurious  time  lying  in  my 
tent.     The  last  lot  of  orderlies  brought  it  out." 

"Odessa,  Aug.  15,  1917. 

"The  work  at  Reni  is  coming  to  an  end,  and  we 

are  to  go  to  the  front  with  the  Serbian  Division. 

I  cannot  write  about  it  owing  to  censors  and  people. 

But  I  am  going  to  risk  this :  the  Serbs  ought  to  be 


242  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

most  awfully  proud.  The  Russian  General  on  the 
front  is  going  to  insist  on  having  them  'to  stiffen  up 
his  Russian  troops.'  I  think  you  people  at  home 
ought  to  know  what  magnificent  fighting  men  these 
Serbs  are,  and  so  splendidly  disciplined,  simply 
worth  their  weight  in  gold.  There  are  only  two 
divisions  of  them  after  all.  We  have  about  thirty- 
five  of  them  in  hospital  just  now  as  sanitaries,  and 
they  are  such  a  comfort;  their  quickness  and  their 
devotion  is  wonderful.  The  hospital  was  full  and 
overflowing  when  I  left — still  Russians.  Most  of 
the  cases  were  slight;  a  great  many  left  hands,  if 
you  know  what  that  means,  I  don't  think  the  Brit- 
ish Army  does  know ! 

*'We  had  a  Red  Cross  inspecting  officer  down 
from  Petrograd.  He  was  very  pleased  with  every- 
thing, and  kissed  my  hand  on  departing,  and  said 
we  were  doing  great  things  for  the  AUiance.  I 
wanted  to  say  many  things,  but  thought  I  had  better 
leave  it  alone. 

"We  are  operating  at  5  A.M.  now,  because  the 
afternoons  are  so  hot.  The  other  day  we  began 
at  5,  and  had  to  go  till  4  P.M.  after  all. 

"Matron  and  I  had  a  delightful  ride  the  other 
evening.  Just  as  we  had  turned  for  home,  an  aero- 
plane appeared,  and  the  first  shot  from  the  anti- 
aircraft guns  close  beside  us  was  too  much  for  our 
horses,  who  promptly  bolted.  However,  there  was 
nothing  but  the  clear  Steppe  before  us,  so  we  just  sat 
tight  and  went.  After  a  little  they  recovered  them- 
selves, and  really  behaved  very  well." 


RUSSIA  243 

''Aug,  28. 

"You  dear,  dear  people,  how  sweet  of  you  to  send 
me  a  telegram  for  my  birthday.  You  don't  know 
how  nice  it  was  to  get  it  and  to  feel  you  were  thinking 
of  me.  It  made  me  happy  for  days.  Miss  G. 
brought  it  me  with  a  very  puzzled  face,  and  said, 
'I  cannot  quite  make  out  this  telegram.'  It  was 
written  in  Russian  characters.  She  evidently  was 
not  used  to  people  doing  such  mad  things  as  tele- 
graphing the  'Many  happy  returns  of  the  day'  half 
across  the  world.  I  understood  it  at  once,  and  it 
nearly  made  me  cry.  It  was  good  to  get  it,  though 
I  think  the  Food  Controller  or  somebody  ought  to 
come  down  on  you  for  wasting  money  in  the  middle 
of  a  war. 

"I  am  finishing  this  letter  in  Reni.  We  closed 
the  hospital  yesterday,  and  joined  our  Division 
somewhere  on  Friday.  The  rush  that  had  begun  be- 
fore I  got  to  Odessa  got  much  worse.  They  had  an 
awfully  busy  time,  a  faint  reminiscence  of  Galatz, 
though,  as  they  were  operating  twelve  hours  on  end, 
I  don't  know  it  was  so  very  faint.  We  had  no  more 
left  hands,  but  all  the  bad  cases.  Everybody  worked 
magnificently,  but  they  always  do  in  a  push.  The 
time  a  British  unit  goes  to  pieces  is  when  there  is 
nothing  to  do ! 

"So  this  bit  of  work  ends,  eight  months.  I  am 
quite  sorry  to  leave  it,  but  quite  quite  glad  to  get 
back  to  our  Division. 

"Well,  Amy  dearest,  good-bye  for  the  present. 


244.  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

I  wonder  what  will  happen  next !     Love  to  all  you 
dear  people." 

"S.W.H., 
''Hadji  Abdul,  Oct,  17,  191 7. 

"I  wonder  if  this  is  my  last  letter  from  Russia  I 
We  hope  to  be  off  in  a  very  few  days  now.  We 
have  had  a  very  pleasant  time  in  this  place  with  its 
Turkish  name.  It  shows  how  far  north  Turkey 
once  came.  We  are  with  the  Division,  and  were 
given  this  perfectly  beautiful  camping-ground,  with 
trees,  and  a  slope  towards  the  east.  The  question 
was  whether  we  were  going  to  Rumania  or  else- 
where. It  is  nice  being  back  with  these  nice  people. 
They  have  been  most  kind  and  friendly,  and  we 
have  picnics  and  rides  and  dances^  and  dinners,  and 
till  this  turmoil  of  the  move  began  we  had  an  after- 
noon reception  every  day  under  the  walnut  trees! 
Now,  we  are  packed  up  and  ready  to  go,  and  I  mean 
to  walk  in  on  you  one  morning.  It  does  not  stand 
thinking  of ! 

*'We  shall  have  about  two  months  to  refit,  but 
one  of  those  is  my  due  as  a  holiday,  which  I  am 
going  to  take.  Til  see  you  all  soon. — Your  loving 
aunt,  Elsie." 

To  Mrs,  Sims  on 

"Archangel,  Nov.  18,  191 7. 
"On  our  way  home.     Have  not  been  very  well; 
nothing  to  worry  about.     Shall  report  in  London, 
then  come  straight  to  you.     Longing  to  see  you  all. 

"Inglis." 


DR.   ELSIE    IN6LIS,    1916 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  MOORINGS  CUT 
"Not  I,  but  my  Unit." 

"My  dear  Unit,  good-bye." — Nov.  26,  IQ17. 

E.  M.  I. 

"Into  the  wide  deep  seas  which  we  call  God 
You  plunged. 

This  is  not  death, 
You  seemed  to  say,  but  fuller  life." 

The  reports  of  Dr.  Inglis  as  chief  medical  of- 
ficer to  the  London  Committee  were  as  detailed 
and  foreseeing  in  the  very  last  one  that  she  wrote 
as  in  the  first  from  on  board  the  transport  that 
took  her  and  her  unit  out.  She  writes: — "In 
view  of  the  fact  that  we  are  in  the  middle  of 
big  happenings  I  should  like  Dr.  Laird  to 
bring  J^  ton  cotton  wool,  six  bales  moss  dress- 
ings, 100  lb.  chloroform,  50  lb.  ether,  20  gallons 
rectified  spirits.  I  wonder  what  news  of  the 
river  boat  for  Mesopotamia?"  After  they  had 
landed  and  were  at  work: — "I  have  wired  ask- 
ing for  another  hospital  for  the  base.  I  know 
you  have  your  hands  full,  but  I  also  know  that 
if  the  people  at  home  realise  what  their  help 

245 


g46  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

would  mean  out  here  just  now,  we  would  not 
have  to  ask  twice."  And  again: — ''Keep  the 
homes  fires  burning  and  let  us  feel  their 
warmth."  She  soon  encountered  the  usual  ob- 
stacles:— ''I  saw  that  there  was  no  good  in  the 
world  talking  about  regular  field  hospitals  to 
them  until  they  had  tried  our  mettle.  The 
ordinary  male  disbelief  in  our  capacity  cannot 
be  argued  away.  It  can  only  be  worked 
away."  So  she  acted.  Russia  created  disbe- 
lief, but  the  men  at  arms  of  all  nations  saw 
and  believed.  In  November  she  wrote  back 
incredulously: — ''Rumours  of  falling  back. 
Things  look  serious.  Anxious  about  the  equip- 
ment." In  bombardments,  in  retreat,  and 
evacuations  the  equipment  was  her  one  thought. 
"Stand  by  the  equipment"  became  a  joke  in  her 
unit.  On  one  occasion  one  of  the  orderlies  had 
a  heavy  fall  from  a  lorry  on  which  she  was  in 
charge  of  the  precious  stuff.  Dusty  and  shaken, 
she  was  gathering  herself  up,  when  the  voice 
of  the  chief  rang  out  imperatively  urgent, 
"Stand  by  the  equipment."  On  the  rail  cer- 
tain trucks,  bearing  all  the  equipment,  got  on 
a  wrong  line,  and  were  carried  away: — "The 
blue  ribbon  belongs  to  Miss  Borrowman  and 
Miss  Brown.  They  saw  our  wagons  disappearing 
with  a  refugee  train,  whereupon  these  two  ran 
after  it  and  jumped  on,  and  finally  brought  the 


THE  MOORINGS  CUT  247 

equipment  safely  to  Galatz.  They  invented  a 
General  Popovitch  who  would  be  very  angry  if 
it  did  not  get  through.  Without  those  two  girls 
and  their  ingenuity,  the  equipment  would  not 
have  got  through." 

She  details  all  the  difficulties  of  packing  up 
and  evacuating  after  the  despatch  rider  came 
with  the  order  that  the  hospitals  were  to  fall 
back  to  Galatz.     The  only  method  their  own, 
all  else  chaotic  and  helpless,  working  night  and 
day,  the  unit  accomplished  everything.     At  the 
Station,   packed  with   a  country  and  army  in 
flight.  Dr.  Inglis  had  a  talk  with  a  Rumanian 
officer.     He  told  her  that  he  had  been  in  Glas- 
gow, and  had  there  been  invited  out  to  dinner, 
and  had  seen  ^'English  customs."     ''It  was  good 
to  feel  those  English  customs  were  still  going 
on    quietly,    whatever    was    happening    here, 
breakfast  coming  regularly  and  hot  water  for 
baths,  and  everything  as  it  should  be.     It  was 
probably  absurd,  but  it  came  like  a  great  wave 
of  comfort  to  feel  that  England  was  there  quiet 
and  strong  and   invincible  behind  everything 
and  everybody." 

As  we  read  these  natural  vivid  diary  reports, 
we  too  can  feel  it  was  good  of  England  that  Dr. 
Inglis  was  to  the  last  on  that  front — 

"Ambassador  from  Britain's  Crown, 
And  type  of  all  her  race." 


g48  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

Dr.  Inglis  never  lost  sight  of  the  Army  she 
went  out  to  serve.  She  refused  to  return  unless 
they  were  brought  away  from  the  Russian  front 
with  her. 

"I  wonder  if  a  proper  account  of  what  happened 
then  went  home  to  the  English  papers?  The  Ser- 
bian Division  went  into  the  fight  15,000  strong.  They 
were  in  the  centre — the  Rumanians  on  their  left, 
and  the  Russians  on  their  right.  The  Rumanians 
broke,  and  they  fought  for  twenty-four  hours  on 
two  fronts.  They  came  out  of  the  fight,  having 
lost  11,000  men.  It  is  almost  incredible,  and  that 
is  when  we  ought  to  have  been  out,  and  could  have 
been  out  if  we  had  not  taken  so  long  to  get  under 
way." 

In  the  last  Report,  dated  October  29,  1917, 
she  tells  her  Committee  she  has  been  "tied  by  the 
leg  to  bed."  There  are  notes  on  coming  events : — 

"There  really  seems  a  prospect  of  getting  away 
soon.  The  Foreign  Office  knows  us  only  too  well. 
Only  6000  of  the  Division  go  in  this  lot,  the  rest 
(15,000)  to  follow." 

There  is  a  characteristic  last  touch. 

*T  have  asked  Miss  Onslow  to  get  English  paper- 
back novels  for  the  unit  on  their  journey.  At  a 
certain  shop,  they  can  be  got  for  a  rouble  each,  and 
good  ones." 


THE  MOORINGS  CUT  ^49 

To  members  of  that  unit,  doctors,  sisters, 
orderlies,  we  are  indebted  for  many  personal 
details,  and  for  the  story  of  the  voyage  west, 
when  for  her  the  sun  was  setting.  Her  work 
was  accomplished  when  on  the  transport  with 
her  and  her  unit  were  the  representatives  of 
that  Serbian  Army  with  whom  she  served, 
faithful  unto  death. 

Miss  Arbuthnot,  the  granddaughter  of  Sir 
William  Muir,  the  friend  of  John  Inglis,  was 
one  of  those  who  helped  to  nurse  Dr.  Inglis: — 

"I  sometimes  looked  after  her  when  the  Sister 
attending  her  was  off  duty.  Her  consideration  and 
kindness  were  quite  extraordinary,  while  her  will 
and  courage  were  quite  indomitable.  To  die  as  she 
did  in  harness,  having  completed  her  great  work 
In  getting  the  Serbs  away  from  Russia,  is  what  she 
would  have  chosen. 

"I  first  met  Dr.  Inglis  at  Hadji  Abdul,  a  small 
mud  village  about  ten  miles  from  Galatz.  She  was 
looking  very  111,  but  was  always  busy.  For  some 
time  she  had  been  ill  with  dysentery,  but  she  never 
even  stayed  in  bed  for  breakfast  till  it  was  impos- 
sible for  her  to  move  from  bed. 

''During  our  time  at  Hadji  we  had  about  forty 
Serbian  patients,  a  few  wounded,  but  mostly  sick. 
Dr.  Inglis  did  a  few  minor  operations,  but  her  last 
major  one  was  a  gastro-enterotomy  performed  on  one 
of  our  own  chauffeurs,  a  Serb,  Joe,  by  name.     The 


250  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

operation  took  three  hours  and  was  entirely  satis- 
factory, although  Dr.  Inglis  did  not  consider  him 
strong  enough  to  travel  back  to  England.  She  was 
particularly  fond  of  this  man,  and  took  no  end  of 
trouble  with  him.  Even  after  she  became  so  very 
ill  she  used  constantly  to  visit  him. 

*'The  Serbs  entertained  us  to  several  picnics, 
which  we  duly  returned.  Dr.  Inglis  was  always 
an  excellent  hostess,  so  charming  and  genial  to  every 
one,  and  so  eager  that  both  entertainers  and  enter- 
tained should  equally  enjoy  themselves.  Provided 
her  permission  was  asked  first,  and  duty  hours  or 
regular  meals  not  neglected,  she  was  always  keen 
every  one  should  enjoy  themselves  riding,  walking, 
or  going  for  picnics.  If  any  one  was  ill,  she  never 
insisted  on  their  getting  up  in  spite  of  everything, 
as  most  doctors,  and  certainly  all  matrons,  wish  us 
to  do.  She  was  strict  during  duty  hours,  and  al- 
ways required  implicit  obedience  to  her  orders — 
whatever  they  were.  She  was  always  so  well 
groomed — never  a  hair  out  of  place.  In  appear- 
ance she  was  a  splendid  head.  One  felt  so  proud  of 
her  among  the  dirty  and  generally  unsuitably  dressed 
women  in  other  hospitals.  She  was  very  independ- 
ent, and  would  never  allow  any  of  us  to  wait  on  her. 
The  cooks  were  not  allowed  to  make  her  any  special 
dishes  that  the  whole  unit  could  not  share.  As  long 
as  she  could,  she  messed  with  the  unit,  and  there 
was  no  possibility  of  avoiding  her  quick  eye ;  any- 
thing which  was  reserved  for  her  special  comfort 
was  rejected.     Once,  a  portion  of  chicken  was  kept 


THE  MOORINGS  CUT  251 

as  a  surprise  for  her.  She  asked  whether  there  had 
been  enough  for  all,  and  when  the  cooks  reluctantly 
confessed  there  was  only  the  one  portion  she  sent  it 
away. 

^'During  one  of  the  evacuations,  an  order  had 
been  given  that  there  were  only  two  blankets  al- 
lowed In  each  valise.  Some  one,  mindful  of  her 
weakness,  stuffed  an  extra  one  into  Dr.  Inglls'  bag, 
because  in  her  emaciated  condition  she  suffered  much 
from  the  cold.  It  stirred  her  to  impetuous  anger, 
and  with  something  of  the  spirit  of  David,  as  he 
poured  out  the  water  brought  him  at  the  peril  of 
the  lives  of  his  followers,  she  flung  the  blanket  out 
of  the  railway  carriage,  as  a  lesson  to  those  of  her 
unit  who  had  disobeyed  an  order. 

"Every  Sunday  Dr.  Inglls  read  the  Church  serv- 
ice with  great  dignity  and  simplicity.  On  the  week- 
day evenings,  before  she  became  so  111,  she  would  join 
us  in  a  game  of  bridge,  and  played  nearly  every 
night.  During  the  retreats  when  nothing  more  could 
be  done,  and  she  felt  anxious,  she  would  sit  down  and 
play  a  game  of  patience.  During  the  weeks  of  un- 
certainty, when  the  future  of  the  Serbs  was  doubt- 
ful, and  she  was  unable  to  take  any  active  part,  she 
fretted  very  much. 

"After  endless  conflicting  rumours  and  days  of 
waiting,  the  news  arrived  that  they  were  to  go  to 
England.  Her  delight  was  extraordinary,  for  she 
had  lain  in  her  bed  day  after  day  planning  how  she 
could  help  them,  and  sending  endless  wires  to  those 
in  authority  in  England,  but  feeling  herself  very 


252  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

impotent.  Once  the  good  news  arrived,  her  marvel- 
lous courage  and  tenacity  helped  her  to  recover  suf- 
ficiently, and  prepare  all  the  details  for  the  journey 
with  the  Serbs.  We  left  on  the  29th  October,  with 
the  H.G.  Staff  and  two  thousand  Serbian  soldiers, 
in  a  special  train  going  to  Archangel. 

"Dr.  Inglis  spent  fifteen  days  on  the  train,  in  a 
second-class  compartment,  with  no  proper  bed.  Her 
strength  varied,  but  she  was  compelled  to  lie  down 
a  great  deal,  although  she  insisted  on  dressing  every 
morning.  On  two  occasions  she  walked  for  five 
minutes  on  the  station  platform;  each  time  it  abso- 
lutely exhausted  her.  Though  she  suffered  much 
pain  and  discomfort,  she  never  complained.  She 
could  only  have  benger,  chicken  broth  and  condensed 
milk,  and  she  often  found  it  impossible  to  take  even 
these.  If  one  happened  to  bring  her  tea,  or  her 
food,  she  thanked  one  so  charmingly. 

"At  Archangel  there  was  no  means  of  carrying 
her  on  to  the  boat,  so  with  help  (one  orderly  in 
front,  and  one  lifting  her  behind),  she  climbed  a 
ladder  twenty  feet  high,  from  the  platform  to  the 
deck  of  the  transport.  She  was  a  good  sailor,  and 
had  a  comfortable  cabin  on  the  ship.  She  im- 
proved on  board  slightly,  and  used  to  sit  in  the 
small  cabin  allotted  to  us  on  the  upper  deck.  She 
played  patience,  and  was  interested  in  our  sea-sick 
symptoms.  There  was  a  young  naval  officer  very 
seriously  ill  on  the  boat.  Our  people  were  nursing 
him,  and  she  constantly  went  to  prescribe ;  she  feared 


THE  MOORINGS  CUT  253 

he  would  not  live,  and  he  died  before  we  reached 
our  port. 

*'After  some  improvement,  Dr.  Inglis  had  a  re- 
lapse; violent  pain  set  in,  and  she  had  to  return  to 
bed.  Even  then,  a  few  days  before  we  reached 
England,  she  insisted  on  going  through  all  the  ac- 
counts, and  prepared  fresh  plans  to  take  the  unit 
on  to  join  the  Serbs  at  Salonika.  In  six  weeks  she 
expected  to  be  ready  to  start.  She  sent  for  each  of 
us  in  turn,  and  asked  if  we  would  go  with  her. 
Needless  to  say,  only  those  who  could  not  again 
leave  home,  refused,  and  then  with  the  deepest  re- 
gret. The  night  before  we  reached  Newcastle,  Dr. 
Inglis  had  a  violent  attack  of  pain,  and  had  no  sleep 
all  night.  Next  morning  she  insisted  on  getting  up 
to  say  good-bye  to  the  Serbian  staff. 

"It  was  a  wonderful  example  of  her  courage  and 
fortitude,  to  see  her  standing  unsupported — a  splen- 
did figure  of  quiet  dignity.  Her  face  ashen  and 
drawn  like  a  mask,  dressed  in  her  worn  uniform 
coat,  with  the  faded  ribbons  that  had  seen  such  good 
service.  As  the  officers  kissed  her  hand,  and  thanked 
her  for  all  she  had  done  for  them,  she  said  to  each 
of  them  a  few  words  accompanied  with  her  won- 
derful smile." 

As  they  looked  on  her,  they  also  must  have 
understood,  "sorrowing  most  of  all,  that  they 
should  see  her  face  no  more." 

'*After  that  parting  was  over.  Dr.  Inglis  collapsed 
from  great  weakness.     She  left  the  boat  Sunday 


254  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

afternoon,  25  th  November,  and  arrived  quite  ex- 
hausted at  the  hotel.  I  was  allowed  to  see  her  for 
a  minute  before  the  unit  left  for  London  that  night. 
She  could  only  whisper,  but  was  as  sweet  and  patient 
as  she  ever  was.  She  said  we  should  meet  soon  in 
London." 

After  her  death,  many  who  had  v^atched  her 
through  these  strenuous  years,  regretted  that  she 
did  not  take  more  care  of  herself.  Symptoms 
of  the  disease  appeared  so  soon,  she  must  have 
known  what  overwork  and  war  rations  meant 
in  her  state.  This  may  be  said  of  every  follower 
of  the  One  who  saved  others,  but  could  not  save 
Himself.  The  life  story  of  Saint  and  Pioneer 
is  always  the  same.  To  continue  to  ill-treat 
"brother  body"  meant  death  to  St.  Francis;  to 
remain  in  the  fever  swamps  of  Africa  meant 
death  to  Livingstone.  The  poor,  and  the  free- 
dom of  the  slave,  were  the  common  cause  for 
which  both  these  laid  down  their  lives.  Of  the 
same  spirit  was  this  daughter  of  our  race.  Had 
she  remained  at  home  on  her  return  from  Serbia 
she  might  have  been  with  us  to-day,  but  we 
should  not  have  the  woman  we  now  know,  and 
for  whom  we  give  thanks  on  every  remembrance 
of  her. 

The  long  voyage  ended  at  last.  Miss  Arbuth- 
not  makes  no  allusion  to  its  dangers.  Every- 
thing written  by  the  "unit"  is  instinct  with  the 


THE  MOORINGS  CUT  255 

high  courage  of  their  leader.  We  know  now 
how  great  were  the  perils  surrounding  the  trans- 
ports on  the  North  seas.  Old,  and  unseaworthy, 
the  menace  below,  the  storm  above,  through  the 
night  of  the  Arctic  Circle,  she  was  safely 
brought  to  the  haven  where  all  would  be.  More 
than  once  death  in  open  boats  was  a  possibility 
to  be  faced;  there  were  seven  feet  of  water  in 
the  engine-room,  and  only  the  stout  hearts  of 
her  captain  and  crew  knew  all  the  dangers  of 
their  long  watch  and  ward.  As  the  transport 
entered  the  Tyne  a  blizzard  swept  ovet  the 
country.  We  who  w^aited  for  news  on  shore 
wondered  where  on  the  cold  grey  seas  laboured 
the  ship  bringing  home  ^'Dr.  Elsie  and  her 
unit." 

In  her  last  hours  she  told  her  own  people  of 
the  closing  days  on  board: — 

"When  we  left  Orkney  we  had  a  dreadful  pass- 
age, and  even  after  we  got  into  the  river  it  was  very 
rough.  We  were  moored  lower  down,  and,  ow- 
ing to  the  high  wind  and  storm,  a  big  liner  suddenly 
bore  down  upon  us,  and  came  within  a  foot  of  cut- 
ting us  in  two,  when  our  moorings  broke,  we  swung 
round,  and  were  saved.  I  said  to  the  one  who  told 
me— 'Who  cut  our  moorings?'  She  answered,  'No 
one  cut  them,  they  broke.'  " 

There  was  a  pause,  and  then  to  her  own  she 


256  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

broke  the  knowledge  that  she  had  heard  the  call 
and  was  about  to  obey  the  summons. 

"The  same  hand  who  cut  our  moorings  then  is 
cutting  mine  now,  and  I  am  going  forth." 

Her  niece  Evelyn  Simson  notes  how  they 
heard  of  the  arrival: — 

"A  wire  came  on  Friday  from  Aunt  Elsie,  saying 
they  had  arrived  in  Newcastle.  We  tried  all  Satur- 
day to  get  news  by  wire  and  'phone,  but  got  none. 
We  think  now  this  was  because  the  first  news  came 
by  wireless,  and  they  did  not  land  till  Sunday. 

"Aunt  Elsie  answered  our  prepaid  wire,  simply 
saying,  'I  am  in  bed,  do  not  telephone  for  a  few 
days.'  I  was  free  to  start  off  by  the  night  train,  and 
arrived  about  2  a.m.  at  Newcastle.  I  found  the 
S.W.H.  were  at  the  Station  Hotel,  and  I  saw  Aunt 
Elsie's  name  in  the  book.  I  did  not  like  to  dis- 
turb her  at  that  hour,  and  went  to  my  room  till  7.30. 
I  found  her  alone;  the  night  nurse  was  next  door. 
She  was  surprised  to  see  me,  as  she  thought  it  would 
be  noon  before  any  one  could  arrive.  She  looked 
terribly  wasted,  but  she  gave  me  such  a  strong  em- 
brace that  I  never  thought  the  illness  was  more  than 
what  might  easily  be  cured  on  land,  with  suitable 
diet. 

"I  felt  her  pulse,  and  she  said,  'It  is  not  very  good, 
Eve  dear,  I  know,  for  I  have  a  pulse  that  beats  in 
my  head,  and  I  know  it  has  been  dropping  beats 
all  night.'     She  wanted  to  know  all  about  every 


THE  MOORINGS  CUT  257 

one,  and  we  had  a  long  talk  before  any  one  came 
in.  She  told  me  how  good  Dr.  Ward  had  been  to 
her,  always,  and  we  arranged  that  Dr.  Ethel  Wil- 
liams should  come.  Aunt  Elsie  then  packed  me 
off  to  get  some  breakfast,  and  Dr.  Ward  told  me 
she  was  much  worse  than  she  had  been  the  night 
before. 

''I  telephoned  to  Edinburgh  saying  she  was  'very 
ill.'  When  Dr.  WiUiams  came,  I  learnt  that  there 
was  practically  no  hope  of  her  living.  They  started 
injections  and  oxygen,  and  Aunt  Elsie  said,  'Now 
don't  think  we  didn't  think  of  all  these  things  be- 
fore, but  on  board  ship  nothing  was  possible.' 

"It  was  not  till  Dr.  Williams'  second  visit  that 
she  asked  me  if  the  doctor  thought  'this  was  the 
end.'  When  she  saw  that  it  was  so,  she  at  once 
said,  without  pause  or  hesitation,  'Eve,  it  will  be 
grand  starting  a  new  job  over  there,' — then,  with 
a  smile,  'although  there  are  two  or  three  jobs  here  I 
would  like  to  have  finished.'  After  this  her  whole 
mind  seemed  taken  up  with  the  sending  of  last  mes- 
sages to  her  committees,  units,  friends,  and  rela- 
tions. It  simply  amazed  me  how  she  remembered 
every  one  down  to  her  grand-nieces  and  nephews. 
When  I  knew  mother  and  Aunt  Eva  were  on  their 
way,  I  told  her,  and  she  was  overjoyed.  Early  in 
the  morning  she  told  me  wonderful  things  about 
bringing  back  the  Serbs.  I  found  it  very  hard  to 
follow,  as  it  was  an  unknown  story  to  me.  I  clearly 
remember  she  went  one  day  to  the  Consul  in  Odessa, 
and  said  she  must  wire  certain  things.     She  was  told 


25S  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

she  could  only  wire  straight  to  the  War  Office — 'and 
so  I  got  into  touch  straight  with  the  War  Office.' 

"Mrs.  M'Laren  at  one  moment  commented — 
*You  have  done  magnificent  work.'  Back  swiftly 
came  her  answer,  'Not  I,  but  my  unit.' 

Mrs.  M'Laren  says:  "Mrs.  Simson  and  I  arrived 
at  Newcastle  on  Monday  evening.  It  was  a  glorious 
experience  to  be  with  her  those  last  two  hours. 
She  was  emaciated  almost  beyond  recognition,  but 
all  sense  of  her  bodily  weakness  was  lost  in  the 
grip  one  felt  of  the  strong  alert  spirit,  which  domi- 
nated every  one  in  the  room.  She  was  clear  in  her 
mind,  and  most  loving  to  the  end.  The  words  she 
greeted  us  with  were — 'So,  I  am  going  over  to  the 
other  side.'  When  she  saw  we  could  not  believe  it, 
she  said,  with  a  smile,  'For  a  long  time  I  meant  to 
live,  but  now  I  know  I  am  going.'  She  spoke 
naturally  and  expectantly  of  going  over.  Certainly 
she  met  the  unknown  with  a  cheer !  As  the  minutes 
passed  she  seemed  to  be  entering  into  some  great 
experience,  for  she  kept  repeating,  'This  is  wonder- 
ful— but  this  is  wonderful.'  Then,  she  would  notice 
that  some  one  of  us  was  standing,  and  she  would 
order  us  to  sit  down — another  chair  must  be  brought 
if  there  were  not  enough.  To  the  end,  she  would 
revert  to  small  details  for  our  comfort.  As  flesh 
and  heart  failed,  she  seemed  to  be  breasting  some 
difficulty,  and  in  her  own  strong  way,  without  dis- 
tress or  fear,  she  asked  for  help,  'You  must  all  of 
you  help  me  through  this.'     We  repeated  to  her 


THE  MOORINGS  CUT  259 

many  words  of  comfort.  Again  and  again  she 
answered  back,  'I  know.*  One,  standing  at  the  foot 
of  the  bed,  said  to  her,  'You  will  give  my  love  to 
father' ;  instantly  the  humorous  smile  lit  her  face, 
and  she  answered,  'Of  course  I  will.' 

"At  her  own  request  her  sister  read  to  her  words 
of  the  life  beyond — 'Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled 
— In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions;  if  it 
were  not  so  I  would  have  told  you,'  and,  even  as  they 
watched  her,  she  fell  on  sleep. 

"After  she  had  left  us,  there  remained  with  those 
that  loved  her  only  a  great  sense  of  triumph  and 
perfect  peace.  The  room  seemed  full  of  a  glorious 
presence.  One  of  us  said,  'This  is  not  death;  it 
makes  one  wish  to  follow  after.'  " 

As  "We"  waited  those  anxious  weeks  for  the 
news  of  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Inglis  and  her  Army, 
there  were  questionings,  how  we  should  wel- 
come and  show  her  all  love  and  service.  The 
news  quickly  spread  she  was  not  well — might 
be  delayed  in  reaching  London;  the  manner  of 
greeting  her  must  be  to  ensure  rest. 

The  storm  had  spent  itself,  and  the  moon  was 
riding  high  in  a  cloudless  heaven,  when  others 
waiting  in  Edinburgh  on  the  26th  learnt  the 
news  that  she  too  had  passed  through  the  storm 
and  shadows,  and  had  crossed  the  bar. 

That  her  work  here  was  to  end  with  her  life 
had  not  entered  the  minds  of  those  who  watched 


260  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

for  her  return,  overjoyed  to  think  of  seeing  her 
face  once  more.  She  had  concealed  her  mortal 
weakness  so  completely,  that  even  to  her  own  the 
first  note  of  warning  had  come  with  the  words 
that  she  had  landed,  but  was  in  bed: — ^'then  we 
thought  it  was  time  one  of  us  should  go  to  her." 

Her  people  brought  her  back  to  the  city  of 
her  fathers,  and  to  the  hearts  who  had  sent  her 
forth,  and  carried  her  on  the  wings  of  their 
strong  confidence.  There  was  to  be  no  more 
going  forth  of  her  active  feet  in  the  service  of 
man,  and  all  that  was  mortal  was  carried  for  the 
last  time  into  the  church  she  had  loved  so  well. 
Then  we  knew  and  understood  that  she  had  been 
called  where  His  servants  shall  serve  Him. 

The  Madonna  lilies,  the  lilies  of  France  and 
of  the  fields,  were  placed  around  her.  Over 
her  hung  the  torn  banners  of  Scotland's  history. 
The  Scottish  women  had  wrapped  their  coun- 
try's flag  around  them  in  one  of  their  hard- 
pressed  flights.  On  her  coffin,  as  she  lay  looking 
to  the  East  in  high  St.  Giles',  were  placed  the 
flags  of  Great  Britain  and  Serbia. 

She  had  worn  '^the  faded  ribbons"  of  the 
orders  bestowed  on  her  by  France,  Russia,  and 
Serbia.  It  has  often  been  asked  at  home  and 
abroad  why  she  had  received  no  decorations  at 
the  hands  of  her  Sovereign.  It  is  not  an  easy 
^question  to  answer. 


THE  MOORINGS  CUT  261 

On  November  the  29th,  Dr.  Inglis  was  buried, 
amid  marks  of  respect  and  recognition  which 
make  that  passing  stand  alone  in  the  history  of 
the  last  rites  of  any  of  her  fellow-citizens. 
Great  was  the  company  gathered  within  the 
church.  The  chancel  was  filled  by  her  family 
and  relatives — her  Suffrage  colleagues,  repre- 
sentatives from  all  the  societies,  the  officials  of 
the  hospitals  and  hostels  she  had  founded  at 
home,  the  units  whom  she  had  led  and  by  whose 
aid  she  had  done  great  things  abroad.  Last 
and  first  of  all  true-hearted  mourners  the  people 
of  Serbia  represented  by  their  Minister  and 
members  of  the  Legation.  The  chief  of  the 
Scottish  Command  was  present,  and  by  his 
orders  military  honours  were  paid  to  this  happy 
warrior  of  the  Red  Cross. 

The  service  had  for  its  keynote  the  Hallelujah 
Chorus,  which  was  played  as  the  procession  left 
•St.  Giles'.  It  was  a  thanksgiving  instinct  with 
triumph  and  hope.  The  Resurrection  and  the 
Life  was  in  prayer  and  praise.  The  Dean  of 
the  Order  of  the  Thistle  revealed  the  thoughts 
of  many  hearts  in  his  farewell  words : — 

"We  are  assembled  this  day  with  sad  but  proud 
and  grateful  hearts  to  remember  before  God  a  very 
dear  and  noble  lady,  our  beloved  sister,  Elsie  Inglis, 
who  has  been  called  to  her  rest.     We  mourn  only 


262  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

for  ourselves,  not  for  her.  She  has  died  as  she 
lived,  in  the  clear  light  of  faith  and  self-forgetful- 
ness,  and  now  her  name  is  linked  for  ever  with  the 
great  souls  who  have  led  the  van  of  womanly  serv- 
ice for  God  and  man.  A  wondrous  union  of 
strength  and  tenderness,  of  courage  and  sweetness, 
she  remains  for  us  a  bright  and  noble  memory  of 
high  devotion  and  stainless  honour.  Especially  to- 
day, in  the  presence  of  representatives  of  the  land 
for  which  she  died,  we  think  of  her  as  an  immortal 
link  between  Serbia  and  Scotland,  and  as  a  symbol  of 
that  high  courage  which  will  sustain  us,  please  God, 
till  that  stricken  land  is  once  again  restored,  and  till 
the  tragedy  of  war  is  eradicated  and  crowned  with 
God's  great  gifts  of  peace  and  of  righteousness." 

The  buglers  of  the  Royal  Scots  sounded  "the 
Reveille  to  the  waking  morn,"  and  the  coffin 
with  the  Allied  flags  was  placed  on  the  gun 
carriage.  Women  were  in  the  majority  of  the 
massed  crowd  that  awaited  the  last  passing. 
"Why  did  they  no  gie  her  the  V.C.?"  asked  the 
shawl-draped  women  holding  the  bairns  of  her 
care:  these  and  many  another  of  her  fellow- 
citizens  lined  the  route  and  followed  on  foot 
the  long  road  across  the  city.  As  the  procession 
was  being  formed,  Dr.  Inglis'  last  message  was 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  members  of  the  Lon- 
don Committee  for  S.W.H.     It  ran: — 


THE  MOORINGS  CUT  263 

"November  26,  191 7. 

"So  sorry  I  cannot  come  to  London.  Dr.  Wil- 
liams and  Dr.  Ward  are  agreed,  and  quite  rightly. 
Will  send  Gwynn  in  a  day  or  two  with  explanations 
and  suggestions.  Colonel  Miliantinovitch  and  Col- 
onel Tcholah  Antitch  were  to  make  appointment  this 
week  or  next  from  Winchester;  do  see  them,  and 
also  as  many  of  the  committee  as  possible  and  show 
them  every  hospitality.  They  have  been  very  kind 
to  us,  and  whatever  happens,  dear  Miss  Palliser,  do 
beg  the  Committee  to  make  sure  that  they  (the 
Serbs)  have  their  hospitals  and  transport,  for  they 
do  need  them. 

"Many  thanks  to  the  Committee  for  their  kind- 
ness to  me  and  their  support  of  me. 

"Elsie  Inglis. 

"Dictated  to  Miss  Evelyn  Simson.'' 

How  the  people  love  her!  was  the  thought, 
as  she  passed  through  the  grief -stricken  crowds. 
These,  who  knew  her  best,  smiled  as  they  said 
one  to  another,  "How  all  this  would  surprise 
her!" 

Edinburgh  is  a  city  of  spires  and  of  God's 
acres,  the  graves  cut  in  the  living  rock,  within 
gardens  and  beside  running  waters.  Across  the 
Water  of  Leith  the  long  procession  wound  its 
way.  Within  sight  of  the  grave,  it  was  granted 
to  her  grateful  brethren,  the  representatives  of 
the  Serbian  nation,  to  carry  her  coffin,  and  lower 
it  to  the  place  where  the  mortal  in  her  was  to 


264  DR.  ELSIE  INGLIS 

lie  in  its  last  rest.  Her  life's  story  was  grouped 
around  her — the  Serbian  officers,  the  military 
of  her  own  nation  at  war,  the  women  comrades 
of  the  common  cause,  the  poor  and  suffering — to 
one  and  all  she  had  been  the  inspiring  succourer. 
November  mists  had  drifted  all  day  across 
the  city,  veiling  the  fortress  strength  of  Scotland, 
and  the  wild  wastes  of  seas  over  which  she  had 
returned  home  to  our  island  strength.  Even  as 
we  turned  and  left  her,  the  grey  clouds  at  even- 
tide were  transfused  and  glorified  by  the  crimson 
glow  of  the  sunset  on  the  hills  of  Time. 


...  .  iJ 


lyib 


^1^ 


